


Dark Desire

by Snow_Queen08



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, Gender or Sex Swap, Genderbending, Manga, Rule 63, Season 0, fem yuugi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-17
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2018-04-09 20:12:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 58,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4362632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snow_Queen08/pseuds/Snow_Queen08
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meet Yugi, her life was normal until she solved the Millennium puzzle and awoke its secrets. Now whenever people hurt the ones she loves the spirit who resides within the puzzle takes revenge. But when she meets the young male spirit who shares her body both their worlds collide as they discover light within the darkness. Season 0. A Fem Yugi story. Repost from FanFiction.com. Rewriting, Chapters 1-25 done.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Just Another Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been made up of old chapters that have since been deleted, rewrote and added to this one. If you wish to read the old versions of these chapters than simply message me and I will send them over to you. Chapters that have been rewritten so far: Chapters 1-25. This chapter was made up of the original versions of chapters 1-4.

 

_There is a history of games interwoven within human history. This game, however, can be traced back to the great Egyptian Empire over three thousand years ago. This ancient game was once used to foretell the future of kings and decide their fates in magical ceremonies. These ceremonies were known as The Shadow Games._

* * *

"Afternoon break! Let's play basketball!" A teenaged boy shouted as he leapt up from behind his desk before sprinting out of the classroom as fast as he could, the rest of his classmates shortly following suit behind him although not with as much enthusiasm. However, while the majority of the class had left the room there was one exception, a young girl sitting in the second row. The girl paid no attention as her classmates ran past her to walk out the door however, she did look up to the ones that knocked into her desk; almost toppling over her elaborate card fort that she had worked so hard to build during the last 10 minutes of the study session. After making sure that her desk was once again steady the teen slowly raised her hand to the top of the card masterpiece, intending to place the final card right on top. However just as she was about to place the card down and finish the fort a voice called out her name, causing her to lose focus and drop the card resulting in the structure falling into a pile on her desk; all that hard work wasted.

"Yugi quit playing games by yourself and come play basketball for once." The classmate who had decided to stay behind to try and persuade her to join the others outside told her as he showed off his skills by spinning a basketball on one of his fingers. Yugi simply looked down at her desk and the pile of cards that rested on top that had once been an impressive card fort. As Yugi sat there looking at her desk she began to think about the boys offer, weighing down the many positives and negatives of leaving her solidarity and joining the rest of her class outside in the sun.

It was certainly lonely sitting inside a classroom every day during breaks with only the puzzles and games she brought with her for company, but that wasn't always the case. Some days she would get a head start on her homework rather than leaving it for when she got home, on those days the breaks just flew by as she answered questions and wrote out reports. Other days her best friend Anzu would stay inside with her rather than go out and if Yugi left how would Anzu find her again if she needed her. Plus Yugi wasn't the tallest of people, standing at just 5 foot and that wasn't an ideal height for playing basketball; especially when everyone else in her class was so much taller than her.

"Thank you for the offer but any team I join would just lose." Yugi replied before returning her gaze back down to her desk and began to collect the cards that were scattered across, putting them into a neat pile in the centre. The boy who had spoken to her merely nodded his head before walking out of the classroom to join the rest of his class outside, leaving Yugi all alone with only herself and her games for company.

As Yugi continued to collect the cards one of them managed to fall from on top of the desk, floating down to the ground until it landed on the floor next to Yugi's school bag. After placing all the other cards back into the pack Yugi reached down to pick up the discarded card from the floor and slide it inside of the pack with the rest of the cards. Once all 52 cars had been placed back into the pack Yugi once again reached towards the floor, this time picking up her school bag which she opened and placed the pack inside.

However, instead of returning the bag to its previous position on the floor next to her feet Yugi instead began to look around the classroom, checking every corner to ensure that she was truly alone. After discovering that she was the only person left inside the room and that no one else had decided to join her Yugi let out a small giggle before she once again reached inside of her school bag, this time however reaching for a golden box that had been stuffed alongside her textbooks.

The box was a marvellous thing to behold, a piece of beauty that would be impossible to rival even if a person looked for a hundred years. The box was made entirely out of pure gold, no jewels lined the surface instead sacred text from a time long lost to history had been etched into the sides, as well as the Eye of Horus that had been carved right in the centre of both the front and back of the box. As Yugi lifted up the lid from the box a wide smile appeared on her face before she began to recite out load the riddle that her Grandpa had told her when she had first discovered the box hiding away in their attic when she was a child.

"'It's something that you see but have never seen before', an intriguing riddle for an intriguing puzzle." Yugi said to no one in particular as she continued to slowly lift the lid from the golden box, wanting to take her time with her most precious treasure. However just as Yugi was about to lift the lid off completely a hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere, ripping the box out from her hands and holding it up high behind her back. The sudden loss of her treasure had caused Yugi to let out a large gasp in surprised before finally turning around in her chair to see a familiar pair of smiling faces standing directly behind her.

"What are you doing talking to yourself Yugi? You win the prize for most creepy, sitting here all on your own." Standing behind Yugi's desk were Hiroto Honda and Katsuya Jonouchi, two bully best friends who enjoyed nothing more than teasing Yugi senseless. However, what both boys hadn't realised that Yugi didn't think of them as badly as she did with some of her other classmates.

Yugi had been an easy victim of bullying since she had been a child due to her tomboy ways, unique interests and lack of parents. Her first term at Domino High had begun a week ago and almost immediately Yugi had been categorised as the easiest student to pick on, often getting bullied by both boys and girls alike where ever she went, from the library to the bathroom Yugi could hear the nasty things that people said about her. Jonouchi and Honda however never used any of those factors against Yugi when they chose her as their latest victim instead commenting on her brains and 'girly' ways, for some reason the two had it in their heads that she was really a boy; maybe it was her hair. Either way, Yugi had to admit that the two were the nicest bullies to ever target her and Yugi had a lot of bullies to compare them to.

Before either of the boys could even begin to think Yugi pushed her chair backwards towards them, standing up and reaching up high for the box as she went; hoping to take it back. However much to Yugi's disappointment, Honda's relaxes were much too sharp as he lifted the box just out of Yugi's reach and quickly threw the box over to his partner in crime Jonouchi. With that simple action a game of piggy in the middle began, with Yugi's prize possession taking up the role of the ball as it was thrown back and forth between the two males while Yugi stood in-between them helplessly trying to reach the box that they kept throwing just above her head; if only she hadn't been so short. This game was abruptly cut short however when Jonouchi decided to keep the box in his hand and instead look over the box, wanting to see what made it so special and why Yugi was so desperate to get it back.

"Only a girl would care about a box Yugi." Jonouchi told her as he began throwing the box in the air only to catch it in his hand instead of throwing it back to Honda, Jonouchi's gaze never looking away from Yugi as she continued to stare at the golden box in his hand rather than at his face. Yugi's lack of attention caused something inside of Jonouchi to snap as he lifted the box high above his head far beyond Yugi's reach just in case she decided to attempt to get the box back from him. "Watching you ogle this thing really pisses me off so quit it. If you want it back then you're going to have to man up and hit me."

Yugi wouldn't deny that in this moment, as she watched him slap his chest to indicate where he wanted her to hit him that Yugi thought about punching the boy. The box in his hand had been her greatest treasure since the day she had found it, even if the box hadn't been made of gold it was priceless in Yugi's eyes and the thought of losing it to a bully made her stomach churn. But as satisfying as it would be for Yugi to hit him and get the box back, as well as give Jonouchi his just deserts for everything that he and Honda had said during the past week Yugi didn't have it in her to punch him; she wasn't prone to violence. Plus if she did end up hitting him then she would be just as bad as Jonouchi.

"I HATE FIGHTING AND VIOLENCE!" Yugi screamed out load causing both boys to jump back in surprise at the volume that had come out of her mouth, for such a small thing Yugi certainly had a set of lungs on her. As the two boys stood there blinking at her, unsure of what she would do now that she had injured their eardrums Yugi decided to take a different approach, instead going with a pleading tactic that would hopefully influence Jonouchi to finally give her the box back. "Can you please return my box, it's very special to me."

"What's in here anyway?" Jonouchi asked her as he peered inside the box, wanting to know why it mattered so much to Yugi in the first place. However as soon as he saw what was inside his face turned sour, displease with the boxes contents; finding them disappointing and remotely unengaging. No longer caring about the box Jonouchi let out a fake yawn before telling Yugi his thoughts on her treasure. "How boring and dumb."

Suddenly Jonouchi threw the box into the air once again, causing it to soar high above Yugi's head in Honda's direction. Jonouchi planned on continuing their previous game, hoping to tease Yugi some more; at least that would be fun compared to her stupid box. However just as Honda was about to grab the box mid-air an unexpected hand caught it first, surprising them all.

"Anzu!" Yugi cried out in delight when she saw who was now holding on to her treasure. Anzu Mazaki was one of Yugi's best and longest friends, the two had known each other since they were children and Anzu always watched out for Yugi, especially while they were at school. As soon as Yugi had seen Anzu she knew that Jonouchi and Honda's fun had ended because no one would ever dare face Anzu when she was mad, it was a death sentence waiting to happen. When Anzu got angry there would be no escaping her fury and there was nothing in the world that made her angrier than seeing her best friend get bullied. They were sisters in everything but blood, and big sister always protected their younger and more defenceless sisters.

"If you think it's so boring and dumb then you should just give it back." Anzu told Jonouchi as she walked over to Yugi and handed her the golden box back. Yugi smiled at Anzu as she held onto the box tightly, her most treasured possession was back safe in her arms and it was all thanks to Anzu, she couldn't have been happier. Yugi couldn't describe it but whenever the box or any of its content were in her hands her fears just went away, the box offered her a sense of safety that Yugi didn't fully understand, but she was happy for it in ever way; many nightmares and nerves days had been soothed and it was all thanks to the golden box.

"I was only trying to turn Yugi into a man." Jonouchi told Anzu as he attempted to stare her down, he wasn't afraid of the brunet no matter how tough she tried to act. Honda, on the other hand, started to back away from the pair slowly trying not to attract any attention to himself. Honda had seen Anzu angry already the week previous when a group of boys had made a comment about her skirt and he did not want to be on the receiving side of her anger; fearful of what would happen if he was.

"Yugi is a GIRL. Now stop bullying those weaker than you and get out of here." Anzu almost shouted at Jonouchi and Honda, her eyes practically drilling holes into the backs of their heads as they ran out of the door as fast as they could; trying to get away from the scary teen. When the two were finally gone Anzu let out a chuckle before turning around to face Yugi who had already returned to her desk, the golden box that had been previously thrown about the room now sat in the middle of the desk as if it had never been moved from its original placing. As Anzu began to move closer to the desk so that she could sit down and talk she noticed a large smile on Yugi's face as she continued to stare at the box in front of her.

As Yugi sat at her desk waiting for Anzu to join her she tried not to dwell on the tight feeling in her stomach that had been created from her fear of losing her most precious treasure, trying instead to think about how it hadn't been lost and that Anzu had come to save her. That Jonouchi and Honda hadn't damaged it or thrown it out of a window on accident, it was in one piece and she should be grateful for that. But most of all she tried to think about the face that Anzu would make and the questions she would ask when she finally showed her friend her greatest treasure that she had kept secret for years.

_The Millennium Puzzle._

* * *

"Wow, Anzu. A few words from you and they ran away." Yugi complimented her friend as Anzu pulled out the chair from the desk in front of her and sat down. Yugi hadn't seen Anzu cause anyone to run away like that for several months, the last time it happened the ones running away with their tails between their legs had been a group of girls who after discovering that Yugi had managed to beat one of their friends at the end of year exams and had decided to punish her for it.

And so, a week before they graduated junior high the group of girls cornered Yugi in the bathroom and ended up covering her from head to toe in food that completely destroyed her uniform, not only that but they also stuck a sign to her back with the words 'Know it all' written on it. As soon as Anzu found out what had happened the group of girls who had tormented Yugi immediately regretted it, they had been so red-faced and embarrassed as Anzu shouted at them in front of their entire class until they ended up running away; not returning to school until their graduation ceremony.

Yugi had always been smart, spending hours of her time locked away in her room studying away after her chores were done; she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with her life at this point, but she wanted to be prepared so that she could get into a good university after high school was over. All Yugi was sure about was that she wanted to take care of her Grandpa and to do that she needed a good job to support him, and so from a young age, she worked to keep her grades high so that when the time came for her to apply she would look like a good candidate.

Yugi had often been bullied growing up because of the amount that she studied, spending every hour that she could in the school's library rather than going outside to play. Yugi had thought that her entire school life would consist of her reading away in a corner with no one to talk to until the day she met Anzu. It had been a rainy day when Anzu had walked into the library looking as if she had no idea what she was looking for or what to even do in there. And so Yugi upon seeing Anzu's plight had walked over and invited Anzu to sit with her at her table, offering her one of her many puzzles that she had brought with her to fiddle with while reading.

Anzu quickly became engrossed with the puzzle, spending their entire lunch break trying to solve it but ending up unsuccessful when the bell rang for them to head back to class. Anzu had become so upset about not being able to complete it that she ended up smashing the puzzle out of frustration. As soon as Anzu had realised what she had done she had quickly apologised and wanted nothing more than to run out of the room and never see Yugi again, Yugi, on the other hand, had simply laughed at the ordeal, telling Anzu that she used to do the exact same thing. The next day Anzu found another puzzle hidden away in her desk with a note written by Yugi next to it, telling her that the puzzle was much easier than the one from the day before. Since that day the two girls had been best friends, Anzu had even become better at solving puzzles now being able to solve the original puzzle that had left her so stumped in less than 10 minutes.

"Their heads swell if you don't knock them down every once in a while. You need to be tougher Yugi." Anzu told her as she stared towards the door to make sure that Jonouchi and Honda weren't secretly hiding in the hall listening in. Anzu had been trying to get Yugi to stand up for herself for years, hating the fact that her best friend did nothing when people called her names or tripped her up; Yugi would simply walk away without reacting to what had been done to her. What Anzu hated the most though was that Yugi would never tell her about instances that she was picked on when Anzu wasn't with her; often having to hear about it on the grapevine. It just got Anzu's blood boiling to know that Yugi was suffering in silence rather than standing up to those who hurt her.

"All the guys here are like that. On the basketball court I thought the guys were passing to the girls a lot, turns out they were peeking under the girl's skirts when they made their shots." Anzu began as she thought back to earlier. Anzu had noticed what the boys had been doing while she had been on the other end of the court, seeing the perverted looks on their faces as they watched the girls aim at the hoops; their gaze particularly focused on the occasional shot of the girl's panties as their skirts blew in the wind.

"I quit and came in, what jerks. Promise me you'll never play basketball in a skirt Yugi." Anzu continued as she turned to face her friend who had a disgusted look on her face. Sometimes Anzu was jealous that Yugi had permission to wear the male uniform, their old junior high had been very generous allowing the female students to wear the male uniforms if they wished; which every girl owned at least one of for when it started to snow. Domino High School, however, had much stricter rules and if Yugi's Grandpa hadn't caused a massive fuss before they started school Yugi would have ended up wearing the female uniform just like all the other girls at the school.

Yugi had never been a big fan of female clothing though so Anzu was used to her sense of style. In fact, there were only a hand full of instances that Anzu could remember Yugi wearing a dress or a skirt in her presence; with most of them being important and formal occasions that Yugi couldn't get out of wearing a dress like when Anzu's parents had taken both of the girls out to an expensive restaurant for her birthday. Anzu almost didn't recognise her friend when she had walked out from her house, dressed in a pale blue dress and her hair styled in ringlets. It was a shame that Yugi didn't dress more feminine, however whenever Anzu asked her about it the younger girl simple went quiet and told her that she preferred the cover that male clothes provided her; Anzu knew that there was more to it than that but the way Yugi looked whenever the question was asked stopped her from prying anymore, not wanting to upset Yugi anymore than the sole question already had.

"By the way Yugi, what is that?" Anzu asked, wanting to drown out her depressing thoughts with something else; anything else. Anzu had visited Yugi's house many times over the years and she had never once seen the box that sat in front of her, it was too memorable for her to simply forget. Perhaps it was new and Yugi just forgot to tell her about it, after all she no longer went around to Yugi's house as often as she did when she was a child so if anything changed then she had to rely on Yugi telling her about it to know what had happened. Dance practice took up the majority of Anzu's time so most days if the girls wanted to hang out together then they had to do it at the dance hall that Anzu practiced in, not only that but Yugi's Grandpa always said something creepy when she visited ever since she had started to develop so she tried to avoid hanging out there as much as possible.

"That's right. You haven't seen this yet Anzu. If you promise to keep it a secret I'll show you." Yugi replied, feeling slightly guilty for never showing Anzu her greatest treasure before today. Yugi had hidden the box whenever Anzu came around, stuffing it deep in her closet or quickly running it into her Grandpa's room before Anzu made it up the stairs behind her; knowing that neither of them would ever go into that room willingly. Normally the box sat upon one of the shelves in her room, used as a bookend so that any would-be thief's thought nothing of it, after all the box and its contents were made out of solid gold; easy pickings for a thief.

As soon as Anzu let out a small 'Okay' to agree to the terms Yugi began to slowly lift the golden boxes lid causing Anzu to lean forward in suspense. With the lid off the pair could finally see the boxes content clearly, a collection of glittering golden puzzle pieces piled on top of each other; each piece seeming more beautiful than the last. The pieces appeared to be of a greater quality of gold to the box as when the light hit the pieces they appeared to be almost glowing while the box did no such thing.

"Who it's so pretty. Are these pieces of something? Anzu asked as she picked up two of the glistening pieces and began to inspect them, running her hands gently over the smooth gold. Each piece was more beautiful than the last and crafted so elegantly that it would be hard for someone not to be mesmerised by the pieces. As Anzu fiddled with the two pieces that she had in her hands she began to think about how the pieces caught the light just right that they almost looked like stars in the sky and just how envious of Yugi she was for having something so beautiful all her own.

"It's a puzzle, though I've never finished it so I have no idea what it looks like." Yugi replied as she looked at the pieces that she had picked up the same time that Anzu had. Yugi had put in more hours then she could count since finding the box hidden away in a dark corner of the attic when she was 7 years old. Her Grandpa upon seeing the box in her hands had been reluctant for her to even touch the puzzle pieces never mind try and put them together, but Yugi had been able to win him over and now here she was age 15 still trying to complete it. "So, it's 'Something you see but have never seen before'".

As Yugi spoke it became very clear to Anzu just how strongly she felt about the puzzle, noticing almost immediately how much Yugi's confidence rose. Most of the time Yugi was as mild and timid as a mouse, keeping quiet most of the time inside of school unless she was called upon by the teachers to answer questions; even when it was just her and Anzu Yugi would mostly wait until Anzu talked first to start a conversation unless there was something she really wanted to talk about. But this Yugi, with the puzzle piece in her hand, seemed braver and more focused then Anzu had ever seen her as if she was a completely different person altogether; it must have been extremely important to Yugi if it affected her so much.

"My Grandpa owns a game shop remember, so we sell a lot of unusual games from all around the world. I found this box in the attic covered in dust so I took it for myself." Yugi explained as she attempted to put the two pieces that she had in her hands together and failing miserably. This was a common occurrence whenever Yugi tried to the complete the puzzle, the pieces just never seemed to fit together. Yugi must have tried to connect every piece throughout the years and yet she still had made no progress, with every single piece still unattached to any other piece. It was as if the puzzle itself didn't want her to solve it just yet. "Grandpa says that this puzzle was found years ago in an Egyptian ruin."

"So those are hieroglyphs carved around the box?" Anzu asked as she trailed one of her fingers over the detailed side of the box, wondering what each symbol meant. Unbeknownst to Anzu Yugi was thinking the exact same thing, having no clue just what was written on the treasure that she loved so much. Her Grandpa had always dumbed down what was carved into the box, telling her bits and pieces rather than a full translation; refusing to reveal the entire inscription.

Although seeing as the box had death and darkness interwoven throughout its history Yugi couldn't blame the man. When Yugi had turned 10 her Grandpa had deemed her old enough to understand the history of the puzzle and had sat her down one afternoon to go over the details in an attempt to stop her interest in the puzzle. It turned out that the puzzle had a curse surrounding it, with those who had tried to complete it before her having died shortly after opening the box that housed it. However, while Yugi had initially been terrified of sharing the same fate as those that came before she was quickly reassured by the fact that it had been just over 3 years since finding the box and she was still living; if she had outlived those that had come before her then maybe she could complete the puzzle as well.

"That's right. I bet they say something like 'Whoever solves this puzzle shall be granted one wish'". Yugi exclaimed happily, thinking about all the hopes and dreams she had placed on her interpreted translation. Her Grandpa had only ever told her that the box would grant the person who completed it great power and so Yugi had always interpreted that as the person to piece together the puzzle would gain the ability to make their greatest dream come true. "I sound childish don't I."

For several years Yugi had poured her heart and soul into each piece hoping that one day she would be rewarded by her greatest wish, for her to gain true friends. And she had been rewarded gaining her very first friend not long after she had opened the box and then shortly after that she had also gained Anzu's friendship. But after that the flow of friends stopped coming, true she had acquaintances that she studied with on occasion but none of them were as close to her as her other friends were. If Yugi was being honest she would say that she was rather lonely having only two friends especially when the person she considered her best friend often couldn't be around her long because of his busy work schedule.

"You don't Yugi I promise." Anzu replied trying to reassure her friend that she wouldn't laugh at her. Making wishes on puzzles wasn't the most mature thing that a 15 year old could believe in, in fact, it was downright embarrassing and would completely destroy the small reputation that Yugi had. Yugi was already considered strange because of how little she talked and the games she played with during breaks, if it got out that she believed that a puzzle was able to make dreams and wishes come true then she would become more of a social pariah then she already was. "I won't tell anyone."

"This puzzle is a major challenge though, I've been trying to solve it for eight years now and I've never been able to solve it." Yugi told Anzu as she looked down at the puzzle pieces sitting inside the box. For eight whole years Yugi had spent hours sitting away in her room trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, eight long years of failing to even make a single piece of the puzzle fit together, eight years of wishing and dreaming; her entire life revolved around the puzzle and she still had no idea what it was meant to look like.

"So what is it? Your wish?" Anzu asked with a grin on her face, wanting to know just what Yugi had been wishing on the puzzle all these years. Yugi loved Anzu with all her heart but her wish was private, no one not even her friends could find out; not yet anyway when she was too nervous to share it or risk jinxing the wish. Yugi had never confided her dream to anyone, always holding her dream close to her heart without telling a soul, too afraid of being laughed at for how childish the dream was.

"Sorry Anzu but that is absolutely positively secret."

* * *

"Damn that Anzu makes me mad." Jonouchi mumbled to Honda as they walked down the school corridor, planning to spend the rest of the day ditching in an arcade or a fast food restaurant. The two of them couldn't believe that Anzu had dared to tell them off, hadn't she heard the stories and rumours about the two beating people up on the weekends and being involved in gangs; she should be terrified of them. Although the rumours only held some truth behind them, especially the gang stories; Jonouchi having belonged to a street gang back in his youth before he had straightened himself out slightly and left. "Who's a bully?"

Jonouchi just couldn't believe that Anzu had been brave enough to interrupt his 'teachings', he'd never had a girl stand up against him before at his old middle school so it was a foreign concept for her to tell him off. While it could be considered an unorthodox method Jonouchi was only trying to help Yugi become more of a man or a tougher girl in this case. It was sickening to see Yugi obsess over that stupid puzzle, the way it held all of her attention no matter what Jonouchi had tried to do to break it.

What would have happened if a bigger and badder bully had seen her with the box, they wouldn't have been as kind as him and Honda had; they would have thrown the entire thing out of the window and been done with it. Yugi wouldn't be able to face someone like that the way she was now, she was just a scared, wimpy little girl who probably couldn't even squash a fly let alone stand up for herself. So Jonouchi had decided to step in to try and teach her how to toughen up for those future days when she would face those bigger and meaner than him and Honda, however, Anzu hadn't understood that and had made them leave before Yugi had learnt anything. Yugi would have to learn sooner or later that her friends weren't always going to be there to help her.

 _Her_. Jonouchi still couldn't get his head around Yugi being a girl but would anyone blame him. She went around in the male's version of the uniform, her hair looked boyish most days styled slightly pointy and he'd hardly heard her speak since they started school the week before so he couldn't use that as a way to identify what her gender was. Every time he and Honda had interacted with Yugi she had kept quiet, just sitting there as if they weren't tugging on her hair or calling her names; they had never really even seen her face before today. As soon as Yugi had stood in front of him Jonouchi had just thought that Yugi had a very effeminate face not that she could actually be a girl, it was still a shock to be honest; Jonouchi wondered if the rest of his classmates were just as clueless as he and Honda were.

"That would be us Jonouchi." Honda told his friend as he turned his head to face him, no longer paying any attention to what was in front of him. Back in the days when they were in middle school, Jonouchi would do far worse than just teasing and messing around with most of the other students, getting in more fights then he did now that he was in high school; however those younger and weaker were off limits for fighting, especially girls. Jonouchi's rule had made Honda look up to him when he was younger having a moral code while in a gang that would regularly get into fights with high school gangs despite the fact that they were middle schoolers. But that was fighting, physically hurting another person, no one was off limits when it came to teasing and taunting; in fact he and Jonouchi had probably done far worst to smaller, punier people in the past compared to what they had done to Yugi.

Suddenly Jonouchi and Honda were brought to a stop when they crashed into what they thought was a wall however when they looked up they found that wasn't the case.

"What were you saying about bullies?" Ushio asked as he stared down at the two tiny first years that had bumped into him. Ushio, also known as the 'Ogre of the Halls' was a hall monitor and leader of the Public Moral Committee; the school's disciplinary group in charge of enforcing the school's rules and regulations. With his imposing physic and powerful position, many of the students and even a number of teachers feared him. Because of his role, Ushio was able to control any student suggested rules that were placed forward for consideration, stopping them from reaching the principal and the school board if he didn't like the rule; or if he wasn't paid enough if you believed the rumours.

"Nothing! Keep outta this you…" Jonouchi began to speak before he was suddenly unable to, his mouth having been covered by Honda's hand in an attempt to shut him up before he said something that he would regret. Jonouchi, on the other hand, was ready to battle, he didn't care at all about the massive difference in height and build between him and Ushio; he had gone up against others clearly stronger than him before and he had come out on top so why shouldn't Ushio be the same.

"It's nothing, nothing…" Honda replied nervously as he tightened his grip around Jonouchi's mouth, not wanting the blond to speak until Ushio was far away and could no longer hear them; else he feared that Jonouchi would end up black and blue knowing his mouth. Unlike Jonouchi Honda knew exactly who was in front of him, having heard about Ushio on the grapevine during their first day at Domino High, wanting to know just who to watch out for if they were going to be causing trouble and Ushio had been the first name he had heard.

"Bullying is wrong." Ushio responded before slowly walking away, leaving the two friends standing in the middle of the hallway; waiting until he was out of sight.

"Yes! That is so true." Honda shouted just before Ushio was about to turn a corner and be out of their way. Honda felt like he could do anything his adrenaline was so high, who knew facing against the 'Ogre of the Halls' would be such a terrifying experience. When Jonouchi had begun to badmouth Ushio Honda had feared that he and his friend would end up in hospital from the beating they'd take from pissing him off and Honda didn't really want to explain to his parents why he was hurt for the millionth time. "Is he gone? He's gone."

"USHIO! I'm gonna get you someday!" Jonouchi screamed after taking a large breath, finally able to breathe again. Jonouchi was fuming about how Ushio had treated them, who was he to tell them off for what they were talking about; it was a private conversation. Although Jonouchi also found himself becoming angry at his friend for how Honda had treated him during their encounter, covering his mouth and nose until he was literally seconds from passing out; Honda was lucky that Jonouchi hadn't bit him. "You idiot I couldn't breathe."

"Damn! Life is so dull." Honda spoke as he kicked one of the school walls, ignoring how his friend had hissed at him a moment ago. Every day it seemed that he and Jonouchi just did the same things again and again: go to school, ditch school, go to the arcade, buy dirty magazines, get into fights etc. It was getting boring and repetitive now that they were in high school, they had to find something new to do and soon.

"Oh? I've got something interesting. I took this from Yugi's treasure box." Jonouchi told Honda as he reached inside of his jacket pocket and took out a weirdly shaped golden object that had an equally weird looking eye carved into the centre. Jonouchi had only had a second to peek inside and see the boxes content, finding himself slightly surprised that it didn't contain something even dumber than a puzzle like Yugi's diary. In that brief second Jonouchi had managed to grab the most interesting piece that he could, before going back to taunting Yugi, hoping that she wouldn't notice the piece was missing until he was far away; and low and behold she had no idea that the piece was gone. "I only got a glimpse, but it looked like it contained a puzzle. Meaning if she's missing this piece she'll never solve it."

"I'll just take this and… Do this." Jonouchi spoke before turning towards a window and proceeding to throw the piece out of it, causing it to land in the school's pool below. This would teach Yugi to toughen up for sure, with the puzzle that she had appeared to treasure no longer completable Yugi would in Jonouchi's eye be able to 'man up' and grow less timid. The puzzle and her feelings towards it were clearly holding her back else she would have told him and Honda off when they had first grabbed it. He had to do this if he was going to teach Yugi a lesson.

* * *

_'I think I'll work on the puzzle tonight after dinner.'_  Yugi thought to herself as she walked out of the school's entrance carrying a semi-large pile of library books in her hands. The school day had ended nearly 20 minutes ago so most of her fellow classmates had left as soon as the bell had rung, including Anzu who couldn't stay behind to join her because she had a dance lesson booked. Yugi was used to this however, often walking or riding the bus home alone depending on the weather.

Home for Yugi was the Kame Game Shop, owned by her Grandpa who she had lived with since she was a babe; her parents and Grandma having died shortly after she was born. Since she had been old enough to walk Yugi had helped out at the shop, originally just stamping price tags onto the different boxes and card packets under the watchful eye of her Grandpa. However as she got older these duties got harder and more common until now whenever Yugi returned home from school there was a number of jobs that she alone had to do such as lifting some of the heavier packages that could throw out her Grandpa's back or clean the display cases because her Grandpa just couldn't get them as clean as she was able to.

If her Grandpa run the game shop then Yugi run their household, being the one in charge of keeping them both feed and the house clean since she was fairly young. It was after her Grandpa had nearly burned down their kitchen for the umpteenth time that Yugi decided to take on the role, fearing for what would happen if she left her Grandpa to do all the work on his own. And so, every day after the store closed Yugi would cook dinner and quickly check the house to make sure that it was still clean.

Yugi had a lot on her plate if she was being fairly honest, running a house and working at a shop while also maintaining her status as a top 50 student; she hardly had any time to herself with all the chores and studying that she had to do. It was only really on weekends when Yugi finally seemed to have a moment to breathe, often locking herself away in her room most days to have some fun without being interrupted. However, no matter how busy Yugi was she seemed to always have her treasured puzzle in her hand. The golden box housing the puzzle was never that far away no matter what chore she was doing, it sat on the kitchen counter as she cooked dinner often attempting to put a few pieces together while waiting for the food to cook. While studying her books she would have the box next to her so that she could swap out the pieces she was trying to combine under the table while she read. The box was always there just waiting for her to fiddle with its pieces in an attempt to solve the puzzle.

"You're Yugi aren't you?" A voice spoke out from behind Yugi, interrupting her thoughts. As Yugi turned around to see who had spoken she immediately began to draw in upon herself. Leaning against the wall was Ushio, the towering block of 'righteousness' in charge of the Public Moral Committee and the head hall monitor.

"Yes." Yugi replied gently as she looked up at the towering teen. Yugi had never had a run in with Ushio before although she had heard his name plenty of times by his underlings when they decided to confront her about her uniform choice, telling her she was lucky that it had been them she had run into and not their boss or she'd be sorry. Too bad she had the principles agreement to wear the male uniform whenever she wanted, perhaps that was why he was waiting for her now to discuss her uniform; it was the only rule she had technically broken after all.

"I'm Ushio, a hall monitor. I want to ask you something." Ushio spoke as he took a step forward towards Yugi, causing her to take a step away from him in return; wanting to keep as much distance as possible. Yugi hadn't heard the most pleasant of rumours about Ushio and she didn't want to take her chances when there was no one else around to act as witnesses. "Are any of your fellow classmates bullying you?

"What? Nothing like that happens to me." Yugi replied perhaps a little too quickly. There had been a number of stories in the grapevine about how Ushio would blackmail or beat up students that he took an interest in and seeing as he was asking her such questions it became immediately clear to Yugi that she was his latest target. Why couldn't Ushio have been the type of corrupt figure to make students pay for hall passes and sell copies of homework, it certainly wouldn't make him a good guy but at least it would be better than blackmail or beating students up.

"Hold on. A person like you would reply like that. I must properly investigate this." Ushio told Yugi as he took hold of her shoulders, no noticing how hard she was trying to pull away from him and get free. Yugi didn't like this one bit, she wanted to run away as fast and as far as she could from Ushio, the creep.

"I really haven't experienced that. Excuse me!" Yugi replied as she used every bit of strength in her to push herself back hard enough to make Ushio let go of her, her shoulders hurting from how hard he had been holding on, hopefully they wouldn't bruise or else that would be a very awkward conversation. As soon as she was free Yugi quickly turned on her heels and began to speed off away from school as fast as her feet could carry her, it was moments like this that made her regret taking after her father in high, Muto's had short legs after all. Yugi only had one destination in mind as she ran past the school entrance leaving Ushio far behind her in the dirt, she was going home where she knew that she would be safe.


	2. Fight For Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been made up of old chapters that have since been deleted, rewrote and added to this one. If you wish to read the old versions of these chapters than simply message me and I will send them over to you. This chapter was made up of the original versions of chapters 5-7.

"I'm home Grandpa!" Yugi called out as she walked through the front door of the game shop, expecting the last of the middle school rush to still be there however instead she found the shop completely empty, not a single customer or her Grandpa in sight. This was common however, for her Grandpa to disappear once the daily rush was over, using this time to restock the shelves and the cabinets knowing that they wouldn't be receiving many more customers for the rest of the night.

Most days Yugi would simply spend the rest of the afternoon helping at the shop rather than go out somewhere, having no one to hang out with; her only friends being too busy most days. Instead, Yugi spent her time doing the jobs that her Grandpa either didn't want to do or couldn't do, such as lifting some of their heavier stock and cleaning up the store. Yugi didn't mind however, the jobs offering her a nice break between school and studying that she knew she wouldn't usually do willingly.

"You're late." Yugi's Grandpa scolded her as he opened the door that separated their home and the shop, bring with him a number of new game boxes stacked so high that Yugi could no longer see his face. Not wanting her Grandpa to accidentally hurt himself Yugi quickly put down the library books that she had brought home with her on top of one of the displace tables and proceeded to take half of the game boxes out of her Grandpa's hands so that he could see properly.

"Sorry, I went to the library." Yugi told him as she walked over to the counter and placed down the boxes that she had been carrying, her Grandpa right beside her doing the exact same thing.

The Kame Game Shop was Sugoroku Muto's pride and joy next to his granddaughter, having opened the store in his youth not long after he had returned from his fated trip to the Valley of the Kings. He had realised not long after he returned home that his prize would quickly be sort after by collectors and unsavoury characters that would do anything to get their hands on the fabled puzzle of legend if he returned to his usual circle of acquaintances who he had bragged to about his journey before he had left, telling them all that he would only return if he had the Millennium Puzzle with him. If they saw him again they would realise that he had succeeded in his impossible trip and would hunt him and the puzzle for the rest of his life.

And so instead of running off to brag to anyone who would listen about his find Sugoroku went running to the home of his lover and proposed that day. Not long after they were wed Sugoroku had the bright idea to open up his own game shop to sedate his craving for games that he was unable to get rid of no matter how happy he was with the love of his life. And so, using the money that he had won in Las Vegas and Monte Carlo before he had been banned from the two locations Sugoroku opened the Kame Game Shop, stocking it with any game that he could get his hands on as well as a few from his private collection that no longer held any significance to him.

The Kame Game Shop like many of the other game shops that had popped up in Domino over the years carried the most popular and profitable games such as Duel Monster or Capsule Monster. However, they also carried rare and unique games that made the store a desired destination for collectors, in fact Sugoroku had heard more than once from a customer that they had travelled all the way to Japan just to go through his shop's collection.

Luckily Sugoroku had been smart and never revealed his real identity to any of his 'friends' when he had attended meetings, so for several years he was able to live a normal life dedicated to his wife and young son. Until the day an old 'friend' who he had taken on as a disciple had walked into the shop and recognised him immediately, challenging him to a game of his choice for the puzzle or else he would tell everyone he was still in contact with where Sugoroku had hidden away instead of dying like they had all believed. That night the two battled it out for the puzzles ownership by playing The Devils Game Board, betting years of their lives instead of money or chips. In the end Sugoroku had won the game, leaving his 'friend' to age 50 years in a matter of seconds while he walked away with the Millennium Puzzle and the knowledge that his location wouldn't be disclosed to anyone; his old 'friend' unable to through the power of the Shadow Game that they had played.

"Again! You went yesterday." Sugoroku told his granddaughter as he moved behind the counter and brought out the calculator, pen and paper that they kept underneath, planning to calculate the price tags for the newest stock that he had just brought out. Sugoroku had nothing against his granddaughter studying, he realised how dedicated she was to getting great grades when she had spent almost every day in the library during the summer when she was 10, the second he would let her leave the shop she would run straight out the door and come back hours later carrying the new books that she had taken out proudly. He just wished that she would spend more time with her friends rather than stuck with her head in a book, she would have time for that when she was older; she should have a chance to embrace being a child while she still had the chance.

"I had books to return and decided to get more out." Yugi replied as she took out her textbooks, her notepad and the golden puzzle box from inside of her school bag and place them next to the library books; planning on doing her work while working behind the counter. Domino High School's library was amazing, so many books both academic and fiction just waiting for her to explore, it was simply breath-taking. The first day of school Yugi had stayed at the library until closing, only realising that any time had even past when one of the librarians told her it was time to go, by the time she had gotten back home it was dark and the shop had closed; her Grandpa about to ring the police thinking that something had happened to her she while she had walked home.

"Still haven't given up then?" Sugoroku asked his granddaughter as he pointed at the golden box with his pen, his gaze remaining there on the box rather than back down at his calculations. The day Yugi had found the puzzle box Sugoroku nearly had a heart attack the second he saw her clutching the box so closely to her chest, begging him to let her keep it and try to complete the puzzle. He had said no immediately not wanting to put her in danger from shadow games or the possible spirit that resided in the puzzle, still unsure all these years later if the figure he had seen in the Pharaoh's tomb had been real or simply his mind playing tricks on him. But Yugi had been fine, in fact she hadn't even managed to attach any of the pieces together, and Sugoroku couldn't have been happier for it; knowing that the longer the puzzle remained uncompleted the safer she would be.

"Who'd give up." Yugi replied as she kept a close eye on the puzzle box just in case her Grandpa made a grab for it. For the past eight years he had hounded her about selling the golden box and its content, telling her that if they sold it they would never have to work again and live comfortably for the rest of their lives. But every time he brought up the idea Yugi had shot him down, the puzzle was her life and she wasn't about to let it go no matter how much money it would rack in for them.

"The millennium puzzle is beyond human understanding. It's too hard for you." Sugoroku told her as he reached over to grab the puzzle but failed as Yugi quickly moved it out of his reach, clutching the puzzle close to her chest. Yugi was smart Sugoroku wouldn't deny that, she had been one of the top students every year since she was 9 and she was constantly reading subjects that she wasn't even studying to expand her knowledge. However, no matter how smart she was the puzzle wouldn't let just anyone solve it until it was time. "Plus, all those unsavoury rumours attached to it."

"I know Grandpa, you've told me already remember." Yugi reminded him. She had heard all these rumours many times before in her Grandpa's attempts to persuade her to give up the puzzle, each time telling her the tales in more detail to hopefully scare her enough to make her never want to touch the puzzle again. Horror stories about how when the millennium puzzle had been discovered by a group of British archaeologists at the beginning of the 20th century anyone who had been present for the opening of the Pharaoh's crypt had died mysteriously not long after.

"But I never told you about how the last survivor, who with his dying breath talked about 'The Shadow Games." Sugoroku warned as he watched his granddaughter's expression turn from uninterested to attentive in a matter of seconds. Sugoroku didn't like lying to Yugi about the puzzles true origins however in his mind she just wasn't ready to know the true story as to how he acquired the puzzle, perhaps she would never be ready to hear the tale of his trip to the Valley of the Kings. "We should just sell it, think of the price it would bring."

"You know I am more determined to finish this now right." Yugi spoke as she took in the new bit of information, looking down at the golden box in her hands with glee in her eyes. These 'Shadow Games' while sounding both frightening didn't scare Yugi in the slightest even though they were linked to an individual's death. She had worked hard on the puzzle for nearly 8 years and she wasn't about to give up now no matter how many scare tactics her Grandpa threw at her.

"And I'm not selling it, it's my memento of you." Yugi continued as she stuffed the golden puzzle box into her school bag so that it was well out of reach from her Grandpa, planning to rush past him and make her way to her bedroom so that she could hide the puzzle just in case her Grandpa tried anything. While her Grandpa was very much alive Yugi had always thought that the puzzle would be a nice memento of the man when he did finally leave this world, planning to past down either the box and its pieces or the completed puzzle onto any future children that she may one day have.

"I'm not dead yet!" Sugoroku shouted as Yugi ran past him and entered their home, heading directly up the stairs. The nerve of the girl he was still as healthy as when he was in his 20s, as long as he wasn't lifting anything too heavy.

* * *

"Let's try this." Yugi spoke out loud to herself as she attempted to piece together two of the puzzle's pieces, failing miserably like normal. Yugi was currently sitting at her desk, the textbooks that she had been reading earlier now discarded in a neat pile in the corner. All of her attention and focus belonged solely to the Millennium Puzzle that rested in the middle of her desk, the puzzle finally starting to take shape for the first time in 8 years.

Yugi couldn't describe how happy she felt having managed to at last make some progress on the puzzle that had eluded her since she had been a child. What once had been a simple pile of gold pieces that never seemed to fit together now began to resemble the shape of an upside-down pyramid, Yugi having managed to connect enough of the pieces together to create the outline of the puzzle.

As Yugi sat there, reaching inside of the box to try and see if she could attach a different piece she was able to hear her heartbeat ringing in her ears; the tremendous excitement that she felt clearly getting to her. She simply couldn't believe that the puzzle that she had poured all of her hopes and dreams into since she was 7 was finally beginning to take shape rather than being a complete mystery. All of the hard work that she had put in was beginning to pay off, all those hours that she had slaved away attempting to work on the puzzle were finally worth it now that she had made some progress. Perhaps this was a sign that she would soon finish the puzzle completely and have the wish that she had placed on the puzzle finally come true.

As Yugi fiddled with the new piece in her hand she turned her head slightly, catching sight of her alarm clock. Yugi couldn't help but stare at the clock in disbelief at the time. It had seemed like moments ago when she had finished having dinner with her Grandpa and headed up to her room to work on the puzzle, yet her alarm clock said differently; telling her that it was in fact already 11 pm. Yugi couldn't believe how quickly time had flown, to think that she had been working on the puzzle for hours without even noticing, she would have to head to bed soon or else her schoolwork would suffer.

_"Yugi."_  In an instant Yugi was alert as she dropped the golden pieces she was holding onto her desk, no longer caring about how much time had passed as she sat in her chair unable to move even an inch from the fear that she was feeling. Yugi could hardly breathe as she took a quick glance at the mirror that she had on the wall next to her and saw that there was no one standing behind her despite the fact that she had just heard her name being spoken so softly by a voice that she hadn't been able to recognise.

As Yugi began to turn herself around in her chair, ready to either fight or run away depending on what she found waiting behind her, her mind began to run rampant full of ideas and images that were not in any way helping to keep herself calm; instead making her more nervous and terrified. She had no idea just who or what was stood behind her, it could be a burglar who had expected her to be asleep when he broke in or a murderer who had already 'taken care' of her Grandpa and had come into her room to finish of his killing spree. Or perhaps it was simply her mind play tricks on her in her sleep-deprived state, hopefully all this was just in her head and not any of her previous theories waiting behind her.

However, instead of finding someone standing behind her carrying an axe or a gun Yugi found her bedroom completely empty and undisturbed, looking the way it did hours ago when she had first come upstairs. This didn't make any sense she was certain that she had heard her name being called yet there was no one there. But that voice, that had rung out as if it was coming from every inch of her room all at once and had spoken so gently that it had caused butterflies to appear in her stomach; it couldn't have been just a figment of her imagination it had sounded far too real.

Could the owner of the voice have hidden away without her noticing, perhaps moving into her closet or ducking under her bed while she had been sat at her desk in fear, waiting until she was lured into a false sense of security before coming out once again to continue with their original plan? However, Yugi's closet was wide open, her clothes on display for all to see and there was defiantly no one hiding behind the row of dark clothing. And no one would be able to hide away under her bed, the entire space underneath used up by plastic boxes filled to the brim with boxes and games. There was nowhere for somewhere to hide and yet she had heard an unrecognisable voice speak her name.

_"Yugi."_  The mysterious voice rang out again, however this time the voice's origin point was coming from right behind her, but that was impossible. The only thing behind her was her desk and the only way the voice could be coming from that direction would be if the culprit had somehow managed to sneak past her and crawl on top of her desk, and yet it had sounded as if he was right there just out of reach behind her.

However, when Yugi swirled herself around in her chair to once again face her desk she found no one waiting for her. Instead, she found that Millennium Puzzle had moved so that it was leaning on the golden box that it had been housed in, the two puzzle pieces that she had dropped previously nowhere in sight. For eight years Yugi had never once thought that the puzzle could be haunted and yet it had managed to move all on its own. Perhaps this was the beginning of the puzzles curse, teasing its victims before gruesomely murdering them, was all this happening because she was beginning to solve the puzzle or had the puzzle let her solve it because it wanted to get rid of her.

As Yugi stood up slowly from her chair she began to hear the ringing in her ears growing louder the more she stared at the half-finished puzzle. Yugi wasn't sure if what was happening was just because she was tired or if the Millennium Puzzle really was cursed but she was ready to run away if need be, not wanting to stick around in case anything happened.

Suddenly as Yugi stood there, her gaze never once leaving the Millennium Puzzle she found her body moving all on its own; her right hand reaching out to touch the puzzle. No matter how hard she fought against the force making her move Yugi wasn't able to stop her hand from moving closer to the Millennium Puzzle that she definitely didn't want to touch in this situation.

The second her fingers touched the cold golden metal Yugi's vision became blurry while her entire body felt tired and drowsy. No longer able to stand on her own two feet Yugi found herself falling backwards towards the floor, unable to reach out and grab anything to stop her fall. However instead of crashing onto the floor as she had anticipated Yugi found herself wrapped up in a pair of strong warm arms that scooped her up as if she weighed nothing until she was being held bridal style by the unknown stranger who she was unable to see through her blurry vision. As Yugi felt herself begin to drift into unconsciousness she felt a pair of lips kiss her forehead and the same voice ring out one final time.

_"Thank you Yugi for releasing me, even if it was for a moment. We'll meet again I promise after all it is your destiny to complete the Millennium Puzzle. Sweet dreams."_

* * *

_'I'm so tired. I shouldn't have stayed up so late working on the puzzle.'_  Yugi thought to herself as she stretched her arms and yawned, completely exhausted from the night before. Yugi couldn't remember much about the previous night, chalking it all up to her sleep deprived state seeing as she could hardly go 10 minutes without having to suppress a yawn. She also wasn't entirely sure how late she had stayed up to work on the puzzle, but she figured that it must have been rather late and well past the regular time she went to bed as she had woken up that morning still wearing the school uniform that she had worn the day before while clutching the half-completed Millennium Puzzle close to her chest.

The only thing that Yugi could be sure about from last night were two words that must have come from one of her dreams that she had forgotten as they wouldn't leave her mind no matter how hard she tried to focus on something else. The words 'Sweet dreams' had floated around in her mind all day, whatever dream that they had come from had long disappeared from her mind by the time she had woken up however the words still persisted, replaying in her head constantly throughout the day. At least the voice that had said them sounded pleasant.

"Yugi." As soon as Yugi heard her name she became still in her seat from fright. It couldn't be him, surely what she had said yesterday had been enough to get him off her back, she told him that everything was alright and that his 'investigation' wasn't necessary why did he have to bother her again. How she wished that she had taken up Anzu's offer to hang out with her outside than stay inside the classroom to eat. "Could I have a moment."

"Of course." Yugi replied as she began to put away the game of solitaire that she had laid out on her desk, still refusing to look up at Ushio in fear of how she might react to actually seeing him rather than just listening to his voice. When Yugi finally stood up from her seat when she finished putting all the cards away she kept her head down, focusing on Ushio's shoes rather than his face. As they walked through the school Yugi could hear the mumbles of the students that saw them together, thinking that she had finally gotten in trouble for the way that she dressed or how her hair was styled. All Yugi wanted to do was run back into the safety of the classroom or sprint off to find Anzu knowing that she would stand up for her.

"What did you want to show me Ushio?" Yugi asked the older and taller teen as she was lead away until they reached the back of the school, far away from prying eyes. As they had travelled Yugi had tried her best to remain at least 10 steps away from Ushio at all times just in case he planned to do something, however that turned out to be much harder to keep up than she anticipated as the older teen would constantly stop and wait for her to catch up to him.

"Just follow me Yugi, I know you'll like it." Ushio told her as they rounded a corner and came across a sight that sent a shiver of fear down Yugi's spine.

"Jonouchi! Honda! What happened to you!" Yugi shouted as she ran forward towards the two friends who were slumped against the school wall, every inch of their skin littered with bruises and cuts. Jonouchi's left cheek appeared to be swollen while Honda's face was covered in blood which Yugi assumed had originated from getting a broken nose. As Yugi dropped to her knees beside them she began to think about how broken and damaged the pair looked, their bodies black and blue as they leaned against each other as a means to support another.

It was obvious that Ushio was the one to have beaten them up, it was the only explanation in fact or how else would he have known that Jonouchi and Honda were out here in the first place beaten to a pulp. And if he hadn't been the one to hurt him then the two friends would have already been in the nurse's office or surrounded by onlookers wanting to get a glance at them at least. Everyone had heard the rumours including Yugi about their past in gangs, though Yugi only half believed the stories, however, a number of the students at the school took the words as complete truth and they would probably pay good money to see the two like this; hurt beyond belief no longer able to act tough.

"I told you I would investigate Yugi." Ushio spoke behind her although Yugi paid little mind to his words, too busy looking over Jonouchi and Honda's injuries; looking out for anything else broken or bleeding badly. Why couldn't Ushio have just left her alone, she never asked for this; this was too much of a punishment for simply tugging on her hair or throwing around her puzzle box. "I found that you were being bullied so I decided to teach those bullies a lesson. One they would never forget!"

"Yugi…You bastard are you happy now." Jonouchi grunted in pain as he stared at the tri coloured haired girl with anger in his eyes.

"You think I asked him to do this? The worst you've done to me is pull my hair that doesn't warrant this." Yugi toldJonouchi as she fought back the tears that were threatening to fall. How could he think that she would ask Ushio to do such a horrible thing to him and Honda? The most they deserved was a detention not to be beaten up until their bodies were littered with bruises. If only she had known, if she had just stayed behind after Ushio had talked to her and asked what he planned to do after his 'investigation' she would have been able to stop this. "I would never ask for this Jonouchi."

"Move it Yugi. I'm not finished punishing them." Ushio spoke before he shoved Yugi away from the injured pair, spending her practically flying so that he could have clear access to both Jonouchi and Honda. When Yugi's hands made contact with the ground she let out a sharp hiss in pain, felling her hands be cut up as they were scrapped across the gravel below. Yugi didn't have long to think about her pain however as she soon heard a thump behind her followed by a groan of pain from Jonouchi.

No longer willing to stand aside and let Ushio do whatever he wanted Yugi stood up, ignoring the pain she was feeling as she moved in front of Jonouchi and Honda, stopping Ushio in his tracks before he could kick either of them again; she might not have been able to stop Ushio from beating the two friends up but she would stop him from hurting them again. "Stop. No more."

"Are you protecting them Yugi? These are the guys who pick on you every day!" Ushio told the small girl as he stared her down trying to make her regret standing up to him. However, Yugi wasn't having it, standing her ground refusing to show Ushio any sign of weakness no matter how much fear she felt inside of her. "This is your chance to get them back for everything they did to you. Hit them, kick them."

"They weren't picking on me. They were teaching me how to toughen up." Yugi replied, ignoring the gasp behind her that she assumed was coming from Jonouchi, as she was almost certain that Honda had already passed out by the time that she had arrived. While she hated what they had been doing to her since they had started high school the week before Yugi could appreciate what Jonouchi had been trying to do, teaching her how to be a man despite the fact she was a girl.

All Jonouchi was trying to do was toughen her up for the day she would face worse bullies than him and Honda she realised that now, though she doubted that he had thought she would have to fight back the very next day. At least they both knew that his teaching worked or Yugi definitely wouldn't be standing in front of Ushio, using her own body as a shield; the old Yugi would have simply run for Anzu or a teacher not done something as stupid and brave as she currently was. "Besides their my friends, not my bullies."

"Friends? You sure are a weird one Yugi." Ushio told Yugi as he took a quick glance at the two male teens leaning on the school wall. He hadn't expected this reaction from Yugi, thinking that she would follow in the footsteps of several other students who had been in her position before when he had shown them that he had beaten up their tormentors. Yet there she stood unwilling to hurt anyone instead of getting the revenge that he thought she would want, she really was as weird as the stories he had heard. "Either way you still have to pay me for opening up the investigation, I think 200,000 yen should cover it."

"200,000 yen!" Yugi shouted in shock. She didn't have that kind of money laying around and she didn't think her Grandpa would either, not that she would tell him about what had gone on today; not wanting to worry him. Yugi only knew one person with that kind of money who would be happy to give her it no questions asked or request for her to pay him back but Yugi refused to ask him for money. "I didn't ask you to do this why should I pay you."

As soon as the words left her mouth Yugi regretted them. In a single step Ushio was beside Yugi, lifting her up from the ground solely by her white school shirt until her feet no longer touched the floor. For a second Yugi thought that her shirt would rip from how tightly Ushio was holding it, thinking that the entire thing would simply pop open if she moved even an inch.

"Normally I hate picking on people but this isn't bullying it's a warning of what will happen to you if you don't pay up." Ushio told her before rearing his arm back and punching Yugi in the face so hard that she was sent backwards, landing painfully on the ground below. However before Yugi could try and lift herself up she was struck again, this time by Ushio kicking her in the stomach; causing her to fall back down and attempt to move into a fetal position. As the blows kept coming Yugi felt as if her body was on fire, every inch of her in unimaginable pain.

"I think that's enough for now. Remember to bring the money tomorrow Yugi." Ushio spoke, giving the girl one final painful kick in the stomach before walking away from the beaten up first years. However just before he rounded the corner he stopped dead in his tracks, causing Yugi to turn her head despite the immense pain she was feeling to stare at him; wondering if he had changed his mind about ending their beating there.

"If you don't then I'll just have to teach you even more pain with this." Ushio continued as he brought out a large knife, making sure that Yugi saw the size of it before walking away laughing, leaving Yugi to lay there in pain hardly able to move while the blonde male next to her finally fell into unconsciousness like his counterpart.

_'Damn Ushio, he's the worst of the worst. But there's nothing I can do, he's just so big and powerful; I couldn't touch him if I trained every day for a hundred year. Is giving him the money all I can do?'_


	3. More Than Survive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been made up of old chapters that have since been deleted, rewrote and added to this one. If you wish to read the old versions of these chapters than simply message me and I will send them over to you. This chapter was made up of the original versions of chapters 8-11. I don't want to end up losing any comments on this work so like the chapter after this an old chapter may still be around until I write something new to replace it with.

"1656 yen, what should I do that's not even close to 200,000." Yugi said out loud as she finished counting up her savings, placing the notes and coins down on her desk in a small pile. When she had arrived home that afternoon her Grandpa had practically thrown a fit the second he had seen her injuries, wanting to march over to the school and demand why he hadn't been called after she had visited the school nurse. Yugi had been able to stop him before he put his plan into action however, telling her Grandpa that she just wanted to forget about what had happened and then proceeded to distract him by asking if he would go out and fetch some more bandages from the shops.

By the time her Grandpa returned he was completely calm and no longer had any plans to call up the school, instead he did what she asked and tried his best to not talk about what had happened to her. Instead he closed the shop early so that she would be able to rest, her body too sore to do much work without gasping in pain. For hours he acted like a mother hen, carrying her books, helping her replace the bandages and he even ordered her favourite takeout food so that she didn't overexert herself cooking.

It wasn't until much later that Yugi was finally given a moment alone, using that time to have a shower so that she could soothe her aches and pains and also check the scale of her injuries, not having been able to look herself over all day. However as soon as she had finished putting on a set of clean pyjamas she was once again summoned back down the stairs to her Grandpa, the old man not wanting to let her out of his sight for too long. It didn't take long however before she was able to sneak away, her Grandpa having fallen asleep while watching the tv.

As soon as she reached her bedroom Yugi began her hunt, looking in every possible corner of her room for any spare change she had lying around, looking at the bottom of her draws and inside all her jacket pockets. However, the money that she found and the yen from her small nest egg were nowhere near her goal of 200,000 yen, she hardly had enough for a new packet of Duel Monster cards. All the money that Yugi had to her name came from either pocket money or the tips of very generous customers, her Grandpa only giving her pocket money rather than a wage for working at the shop; it was their family business after all and if she didn't help out then they would have no income at all. "If I don't pay he'll beat me up again…"

Was her only option to ask him for money?

As Yugi sat at her desk fiddling with the Millennium Puzzle she began to think about all the possibilities that would occur if she returned to school the next day without the money that Ushio demanded. Would she even survive tomorrow if she didn't bring him the 200,000 yen, she didn't put it past the 3rd year to actually use the knife that he had threatened her with, but would he simply torture her with it or outright kill her. If she went to school without the cash than she would either return home covered in cuts or lay bleeding out in some alleyway, Yugi was certain of it.

"Why am I working on the puzzle, this isn't the time for that." Yugi exclaimed in anger as she practically slammed the puzzle down on her desk. Since she had arrived home the puzzle had hardly left her side, despite the fact that she had more important things to do then try to solve it, like figure out a way to get out of the mess she was in. And yet even though her mind was busy trying to come up with a solution to her problems she found that for some strange reason she was able to solve the Millennium Puzzle much easier than she ever had before, even easier than the night before. To think that in the last two days she had managed to make more progress on the golden puzzle than she ever had in 8 years.

Could she really do this, ignore all her problems to instead work on the puzzle. If she didn't come up with a solution to Ushio's threats then where would she find herself this time tomorrow, safe and sound in her bed or laying in a morgue. But the only solution that she had been able to come up with involved her asking either her Grandpa or one of her best friends for the money, however Yugi didn't want to worry the pair even though she knew that they would happily supply her with the cash without complaint. Perhaps she would spend just a few minutes on the puzzle so that she could take a break.

Time seemed to disappear as Yugi worked on the puzzle, the feelings of dread and fear that lay deep in her stomach disappearing with every piece that she managed to put together. All her ideas about how to put together the money for Ushio had long left her mind, all that mattered to her now was the puzzle and the goal of finishing it tonight. She couldn't let this small moment of clarity disappear, fearing that if she did it would take another 8 years before she came this close to solving the puzzle again.

"So, if I turn this piece." Yugi spoke gently as she placed the piece she was holding into its slot, quickly realising afterwards that it was the second to last piece of the puzzle. Yugi could hardly believe it, she had finally done it, she had completed the Millennium Puzzle; she had achieved the impossible. What had been described as beyond human knowledge since she could remember sat in the palm of her hand one piece away from completion, this was the greatest moment of her life; in a matter of seconds all the years that she had put into the puzzle would be worth it. "I did it! When I fit in the last piece it will be done."

Yugi couldn't describe the immense feelings that rested inside of her, wanting to scream and cry from the happiness that she felt all at the same time. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so happy in her life, perhaps she never had felt so happy before today. To think that her Grandpa had been wrong all those years telling her that she would never complete the puzzle, she couldn't feel prouder knowing that she had proved him wrong. Perhaps now the dream that she had placed on the puzzle would finally come true.

However, when Yugi reached inside of the golden box to retrieve the final piece all she felt was cold metal no matter what direction she moved her hand in. Quickly picking up the box and bring it to her eyes Yugi found the box completely empty. She couldn't believe it how could a piece have gone missing, Yugi had been so carefully with the box since the day she had gotten it, how could it not have all the puzzle pieces inside. The last piece had to be somewhere in her room, she must have been fiddling with it one day and simply forgot to place it back inside the box with the others.

After almost an hour of tearing her room apart, emptying boxes, raiding her draws and completely ruining her ironed clothes Yugi found no trace of the missing puzzle piece much to her dismay. Could the puzzle piece have been lost when she had taken it to school or had the piece even been in the box at all when she found it, if either of those ideas were true than it was all over; her dreams would never come true. All those years of wishing and working on the puzzle had been wasted on a childish fantasy.  _'I can never solve the puzzle. My wish will never get granted'._

"Whoa. I'm amazed! You finished the Millennium Puzzle!" Yugi heard her Grandpa speak from behind her, interrupting her thoughts with his words. Yugi wasn't sure just how long he had been awake for, having not heard him at all, however she figured that she must have made enough noise during her hunt for the missing puzzle piece to wake him from his slumber.

"No, I couldn't finish it after all Grandpa; there's a lost piece." Yugi replied as she passed the Millennium Puzzle to her Grandpa and showed him the weirdly shaped hole on one of the sides. How she was able to speak without crying Yugi didn't know, her whole body feeling tight and finding herself hardly able to breathe as she thought about her shattered dream that would now never come true.

"Yugi you've poured your heart into this puzzle for the last 8 years you should have more faith, and be more careful with your things." Yugi's Grandpa told her as he handed her the Millennium Puzzle. Yugi stared at her Grandpa in confusion for a moment before he brought out his hand from behind his back and revealed to her the final piece of the puzzle that she had believed had been lost forever.

"Thank you, Grandpa. You found it for me." Yugi shouted as she flung herself at the old man, ignoring his grunt of shock as she tightened her grip on him. Yugi didn't know how her Grandpa had come across the puzzle piece, he could have taken the piece from its box the day she had asked if she could keep the puzzle and she wouldn't have cared, she was just happy that she would be able to finish the Millennium Puzzle.

"I wasn't the one who found it." Sugoroku told his granddaughter as she stared at the piece he had handed her, half listening to what he had said. He had been awoken around 20 minutes ago by the sound of knocking at his front door, for a moment he thought that he would leave it for Yugi to answer however when the knocking persisted and he opened his eyes he found Yugi no longer in the seat next to him. Thinking that something had happened to her Sugoroku rushed to the door expecting to see the police however instead he found a soaking wet young boy wearing the same uniform that Yugi wore.

For a moment Sugoroku though that the boy had been the one to hurt Yugi however when the boy began explaining why he was there he quickly realised that wasn't the case, instead he was another victim of the bully who had hurt his granddaughter. The boy told him that his name was Jonouchi and that Yugi had gotten hurt protecting him from a thug named Ushio who alongside beating her up threatened her with a knife if she didn't give him 200,000 yen. Jonouchi also asked Sugoroku to not tell Yugi his name before reaching inside of his pocket to retrieve a piece of the Millennium Puzzle, telling the old man that he was sorry for what he had been doing to Yugi for the past week before walking off.

"A friend of yours just stopped by. He asked me to give that to you." Yugi's Grandpa told her as he turned away and began to walk towards her bedroom door, pausing for a moment when he reached her school bag so that he could place the small envelope of money that he had been hiding inside; hopefully Yugi would be safe from this Ushio after she paid him. "Goodnight Yugi."

"Goodnight Grandpa." Yugi replied as stroked the piece of the puzzle gently, quickly saying a small 'thank you' in her head for the mysterious friend who had found her puzzle; without their small act of kindness her hopes and dreams would still be shattered.

As soon as Yugi inserted the final piece of the Millennium Puzzle into its place a blinding white light began to fill her bedroom, however no matter how hard she tried Yugi was unable to let go of the puzzle to cover her eyes from the light. Instead, Yugi found herself becoming drowsy, no longer able to support herself despite how awake she had felt moments ago. With her hands busy holding onto the Millennium Puzzle Yugi had no way of catching herself as she began to fall backwards towards her hard-wooden floor.

For a moment Yugi thought that she would slam down onto her floor however instead she landed into a pair of strong arms that couldn't have belonged to her Grandpa. Not knowing who it was who had caught her Yugi tried with all her might to open her eyes so that she could see the face of her mysterious saviour, however no matter how hard she tried her eyelids refused to move as she found herself drifting into unconsciousness. The last thing that Yugi heard was the same voice from the dream the night before ringing out.

_"Thank you."_

* * *

"I can't believe Yugi called me out here in the middle of the night." Ushio spoke to himself as he walked past the school gates, turning his head constantly as he kept a lookout for the short tri coloured haired girl. He had been woken up some time ago by a phone call from the first year, telling him that she had the money but didn't want to risk taking all of it with her to school the next day, so instead she asked if he would meet her at the front of the school at midnight to make the exchange. Ushio didn't know how the girl had come across his number but he didn't care, he was getting paid that was all that mattered; he just hoped that the girl would arrive soon.

Unbeknownst to Ushio, Yugi would not be meeting him that night or ever again if everything went according to plan. Instead, Ushio would be meeting the spirit that resided inside of the Millennium Puzzle who had vowed to defend and protect Yugi the day she had discovered the puzzle. Ever since Yugi had held a piece of the puzzle in her hand the pair had been connected, the spirit able to follow and watch over her even when she didn't bring the Millennium Puzzle with her. For years the spirit had watched over Yugi, observing her as she suffered in silence from the torment she was subjected to by her peers for being a little different.

The spirit had wanted to do something about Yugi's bullies since the first time he watched her get picked on, all he needed was a few seconds in control so that he could make her stand up for herself for just once in her life, but he knew that she wasn't ready for him back then. If Yugi had completed the Millennium Puzzle when she was a child there was no telling what the repercussions would be, so the spirit waited, spending his time building up the connection between him and Yugi so that she would be prepared for when he took control the first time.

The spirit had thought that Yugi would be safe for a few more years however the second Ushio appeared the spirit knew that it was time to let Yugi complete the Millennium Puzzle and complete their bonding. It had been a good thing that the spirit had begun letting Yugi solve the puzzle as the very next day she along with Jonouchi and Honda had been beaten up by the burly older teen. It had made the spirits blood boil knowing that Yugi had been hurt and he was unable to do something, but he wouldn't let Ushio get away with what he had done to his host. He would serve justice to Ushio and he would be punished accordingly through the shadow game they would play, and Ushio would never be able to harm Yugi or anyone else ever again.

"Thanks for coming Ushio." The spirit spoke as he used his powers to shift the shadows that he had surrounded himself with away, having wanted to surprise Ushio and cement himself as being the one in control of the situation. As the spirit came into view Ushio stood there in confusion, surprised at Yugi's difference in appearance, unsure if it was due to the lack of lightning or if he just hadn't noticed how she really looked during their limited interactions.

Ushio had been right that Yugi did look different, the spirit only able to somewhat hide when he took control of her body. The main difference between the spirit and Yugi was their height, the spirit adding several inches of height to Yugi's small stature; actually making her look more like the teenager that she was rather than a child which she was often mistaken for. Another difference was Yugi's voice, which deepened when the spirit took control while still sounding feminine. The final difference between the pair was their hair. The two already had similar hair, commonly styled the same and even had the same tri coloured scheme, however the spirit had blonde strokes of hair stretching out into his black locks that now appeared in Yugi's hair. Enough differences between the pair that would cause friends and those who knew Yugi enough to pause and question her appearance however for strangers like Ushio the differences wouldn't matter nor would they question it.

"I knew you would be a good girl and give me the money. Now hand it over!" Ushio shouted as he stretched out his hand, ready to receive the money that he would not be getting.

"I have it right here, and I've raised it 400,000." The spirit told him as he reached inside of Yugi's school jacket and took out the money. How nice of Yugi's Grandpa to provide him with the extra cash, if he hadn't then the spirit wasn't sure he would have been able to interest Ushio into playing a game. The spirit needed a way to win over the older teen and sway him into taking part in the shadow game and the easiest way to do that would be to give him the chance to line his pockets, his greed filled heart unable to resist the opportunity. "But this much money… It wouldn't be any fun to just hand it over. So how about we play a game."

"A game?" Ushio questioned, shocked by what Yugi was staying. Gone was the scared little girl who he had beaten up, instead there stood a confident young woman who didn't care that he had threatened her earlier that day. She should be scared, fearful for what he would do to her if she upset him and yet here she was challenging him to a game; the girl was even weirder than the rumours he had heard.

"How about it, if you win you get more than 200,000 yen. We need just one tool to play, the knife that you've got hidden." The spirit told Ushio as the older teen brought out the knife that he had shown Yugi earlier from his inside pocket. The second the spirit had seen the knife he knew just how he would use it in his shadow game, in fact it was vital for his plans, everything would have been ruined if Ushio hadn't brought the knife along with him; however the setting for their game resolved that issue after all who wouldn't bring some form of protection with them while walking around in the middle of the night.

"I'll explain the rules." The spirit began as he walked over to the P.E equipment that he had moved out into the middle of the school entrance for their game, placing down the pile of money and the knife that Ushio had handed him. Before this night was over Ushio would find himself punished for his acts against the innocent and the spirits host, lost in a sea of illusion that the spirit had created just for him; the older teen would regret ever harming anyone.

"The players take turns putting money on top of their hand and stabbing it with the knife, keeping only the bills that the knife stab, players also must always take more than one bill." The spirit explained as he grabbed the knife and gave Ushio a small demonstration of what he was asking him to do, though the spirit didn't actually stab the pile of money; stopping the knife just before it was about to plunge into the bills. "The game continues until the last bill is gone, the challenge is to take as much money as possible. If a player tries to take the money by hand or quit the game before it is over then they forfeit all the money they have collected and hand it to their opponent. But be warned Ushio, if you break the rules then as punishment a penalty game will decide your fate."

"It's just a test of courage." Ushio began as he stared at the pile of money and the knife that rested in front of him. Ushio cared little about the 'penalty game' that Yugi spoke of, caring more about the 400,000 yen sitting in from of him. He could simply walk away from the school with the 200,000 that he had asked for however 400,000 yen was just too much money to let slip away from him. "I accept."

"I'll start." The spirit told Ushio as he placed the pile of bills onto his hand before picking up the knife that had been wedged into the P.E equipment, planning to make the first move. However, as the spirit hovered the knife over the bills resting on top of his hand his thoughts drifted to the possible outcomes of the duel rather than on his turn. If everything turned out the way the spirit planned then Yugi as well as everyone else at the school would never have to deal with Ushio ever again. But if the spirit lost then not only would Ushio have his money but also walk away unscathed, still in his position of power inside of the school able to make Yugi's life a living hell. The spirit couldn't let that happen.

Yugi meant everything to the spirit and he would not allow any more harm to befall her while he could stop it. The spirit had no memories of his life before residing in the puzzle nor did he have any memories of the many years that he had resided inside of a tomb, only knowing that he had been hidden away for 3000 years although he had no sense of the time passing by in his head. The spirits first memory in fact involved Yugi's soft hands gently picking up the golden box that housed the pieces of his puzzle.

It had been such a shock that day, finding himself awoken for the first time in years. All the spirit knew was that he had been woken from his slumber by a young girl named Yugi that he vowed to protect the second she made a wish on his puzzle. She was so innocent, her heart pure of any thoughts of darkness that would often be found in the souls of others, she was a miracle to be found in the dark infested world they lived in. There was no one else more deserving of the puzzle the spirit was sure of it and now that his puzzle was complete and he had full control of his powers he would dedicate his life to protecting hers.

_'I'll keep you safe Yugi, no matter what.'_  The spirit though to himself as he plunged the knife into the pile of bills. As the spirit eased his way into the notes he took his time, making sure that he only used enough strength as necessary to cut through more than one note rather than give it his all. If the spirit made one wrong move than Yugi would end up waking up in her bed the next morning with a gaping hole in her hand and if that happened then the spirit would have to appear to her before he planned to so that he could explain how she had got the injury.

"I didn't even get ten bills, I thought I'd put my strength in it but they're not easy to stab." The spirit told his opponent as he lifted the knife so that it was level to his eyes, showing off the bills that he had managed to grab to Ushio. After taking the bills that he had grabbed off the knife the spirit pocketed the cash quickly before turning the knife around so that the handle was facing Ushio so that the teen would be able to make his move. As Ushio prepared to take his turn the spirit began to speak once again, trying to increase the fear within the teen. "If you use too much strength you'll stab yourself. The point of the game is to control your greed."

"SHUT YOUR TRAP!" Ushio shouted as he plunged the knife deep into the pile of bills, managing to grab a larger amount of bills then the spirit had. Ushio had told himself that he would be sensible during this game, taking his time so that he didn't accidentally injure himself. However that idea had quickly been thrown out of the window after Yugi's comment about greed, Ushio was now fuelled by the rage that he felt about her words, but with rage came mistakes and that was just what the spirit had hoped for. As Ushio tugged the knife out of the money laying on his hand he began laughing like a madman when he saw just how much of a difference there was between his and Yugi's own pile. "Look! Over 100,000 yen and not a mark on my hand. I should have stabbed harder."

"Not bad but it gets harder to control your strength each turn." The spirit warned Ushio and he picked up the knife and readied himself for his second turn.

_10 minutes later_

"There's not much money left, the games almost over." The spirit told Ushio as he handed the older teen the knife once again. Ushio was currently in the lead with over 200,000 yen, a lot more money than he had originally asked for. However the only reason that Ushio was winning was because he only had himself on the line, the spirit on the other hand had to protect the body of his host at all cost to make sure that she didn't become aware of the spirits presence.

_'There's nothing to this game, this brat was foolish for ever challenging me.'_  Ushio thought to himself as he raised the knife once more. In his mind he had already won, after all he had much more money compared to Yugi that she would never catch up even if she stabbed all the way to the bottom of the pile, there was nothing that she could do to win.  _'The rest of the money is mine!'_

_'My arm. I can't relax my right arm.'_  Ushio thought to himself in a panic as he found to his surprise that no matter how hard he tried he was unable to relax his hand, battling himself in an attempt to weaken the strength in his arm that wanted to swing down with all its strength, however failing miserably.  _'My arm isn't listening to my brain. If I don't stop it then I'll... I'll lose everything... I have to fight it.'_

"In the shadow games a person's true nature is revealed to decide their fate." The spirit told the older teen as he watched Ushio fight against his own body. This was what the spirit had been waiting for, the moment that Ushio's true self would come through and cause him to do something drastic to stop himself, he just needed that final push and everything would fall into place. "Your right arm is controlled by your own greed, you can no longer stop it Ushio. So what will you do, sacrifice your left hand to get the money or…"

"The answer is simple. There is a way for me to take a stab without hurting my left hand and get all the money." Ushio interrupted the spirit mid-sentence, finally coming up with an answer to his problem. If Ushio was being honest he hadn't planned to harm Yugi any more than he already had the day before as long as she paid him the money that he asked for. True, he had considered blackmailing her later on in the year for more money to keep his silence for what he had done but asides from that he had no plans to hurt her again. However those plans had changed, if only she hadn't challenged him to a game she might have walked away from the school unharmed; perhaps if he was feeling generous he would call for an ambulance so that she didn't end up bleeding out. "DIE YUGI!"

As soon as Ushio had uttered the words he quickly turned the knife that he was holding away from his hand to instead aim directly at Yugi's heart, swinging down his arm with all his strength. However just as the knife was about to make contact with Yugi's body the spirit made it jump backwards out of the way of the blade, landing safely nearly 5 feet away from Ushio.

"Just as I thought, you weren't able to follow the rules." The spirit told Ushio as a grin appeared on his face and a golden glowing eye symbol appeared on his forehead, unleashing the power that rested inside of his soul. "This mark is only seen by those who 'trespass in my soul'! Like those who hurt my friends and try to steal my money."

"PENALTY GAME! GREED THE ILLUSION OF AVARICE!"

* * *

"' _Thank you.'"_  The mysterious voice had been on Yugi's mind all day from the second she had woken up, in fact it was all she was able to think about. She had recognised the voice immediately, it was the same voice that she had heard in the dream the night before last, and yet Yugi still couldn't link the voice to a face. Although Yugi felt as though she knew exactly who had said those words, her mind simply refusing to help her remember his face. Her mind also refused to tell her what had happened after completing the Millennium Puzzle, having forgotten once again even getting into bed the night before, and yet that morning she had awoken under her covers; the Millennium Puzzle resting directly on top of her chest.

"Yo Yugi. How are you doin'?" Upon hearing Jonouchi's voice Yugi let the Millennium Puzzle drop down out of her hands, having been admiring her hard work while walking to class. As Yugi looked up she saw that Jonouchi's face was similar to hers, covered in bruises and plasters from Ushio's beating the day before. If Yugi was being honest she had thought that Jonouchi would never approach her again after what had happened the day before, believing that he would instead simply ignore her for the rest of their school lives together.

"I'm fine and you?" Yugi asked as she focused her gaze on Jonouchi's injuries, feeling guilty for getting him hurt.

"This is nothing, happens all the time." Jonouchi told the short girl as he pointed to his face, having noticed her prolonged looks at his cuts and bruises. He hadn't been lying, it seemed like every day he earned a new injury from either getting into fights or accidentally setting of his old man; in fact Jonouchi could hardly remember a time when he wasn't hurt in some way. "You know Yugi if you can keep a treasure so can I. Want to see it. It's 'Something you can show but can't see.'"

Yugi took in his words, surprised that he had used a riddle similar to the one that he had heard her say the day before in class. However no matter what Yugi though of she couldn't come up with an answer, standing there for a good minute staring off into space trying to think of anything that would fit the riddle and failing miserably.

"Give up? C'mon... It's friendship. Thanks for showing that were friends Yugi." It took Yugi a few seconds to react to what he was saying, hardly able to believe that Jonouchi had just called the two of them friends. Jonouchi, who she had been warned about being a gang member within the first hour of her first day at high school had said that they were friends, was this the same blonde that she had known for a week. Perhaps this was the work of the Millennium Puzzle, finally granting her wish.

"Yer." Yugi told the taller teen as she gave him a radiant smile, tears welling up in her eyes from how happy she felt upon hearing his words. As soon as Jonouchi saw Yugi's smile he found himself bringing his hand up to his face in an attempt to stop the blood coming out his nose from ruining his clean uniform. Not wanting Yugi to see his reaction Jonouchi quickly turned around and began running down the hall towards the boy's bathroom, Yugi's voice ringing out behind him in concern.

"Wait Jonouchi you can borrow my handkerchief!"


	4. Wish I Were Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been made up of old chapters that have since been deleted, rewrote and added to this one. If you wish to read the old versions of these chapters than simply message me and I will send them over to you. This chapter was made up of the original versions of chapters 12-17.

"So, did you watch that video Jonouchi?" Yugi asked as the pair walked towards the entrance of their school, the taller teen had stopped by the game shop earlier that morning to pick Yugi up so that the two could spend the commute together, using the trip to talk about their weekends. A week had yet to pass since the two of them had become friends and yet they were already inseparable, walking to classes together and hanging out most days after school alongside Anzu, who was more than surprised to find out that the pair had formed any sort of friendship.

Yugi was still finding it hard to believe that Jonouchi had become her friend, that he genuinely wanted to spend time with her almost every day and that their friendship wasn't some cruel prank. It was a strange experience for Yugi, in the past her friends had always been busy with their own lives to spend great lengths of time with her, dance practice and work keeping them away most of the time. However, Jonouchi was a completely different story, he would constantly ask her if she wanted to go out with him after school to hang out at the arcade or get a bite to eat, the friendship that they shared was completely different to the ones she had with her other friends.

In fact, Yugi and Jonouchi had become so close in the span of a few days that Yugi had invited him to have dinner that Friday so that he could meet her Grandpa, something that Yugi hadn't been able to do with her other friends in a long time. It had been an interesting night, the three of them talking about this and that in the kitchen while Yugi cooked dinner. Everything was going perfectly until they sat down to eat and somehow the conversation turned from how the pair were finding high school to Jonouchi's choices in porn. Yugi didn't know how it had happened but for the next 20 minutes the two males talked non-stop about their similar tastes in videos and their own personal collections, all while Yugi was stuck sitting at the dinner table red-faced trying to not choke on her meal whenever they said something shocking.

Now Yugi wasn't squeamish when it came to sex, she couldn't be after being raised by her Grandpa. In fact, Yugi was probably the first person in her class to have received the 'birds and the bees' talk, having found one of her Grandpa's dirty magazines when she was 9. However, listening to people talk about the act while she was eating was a completely different matter, especially when the discussion in question involved very graphic retelling on what had been seen. By the end of the night Jonouchi and Yugi's Grandpa had formed a nice little friendship of their own, her Grandpa had even lent Jonouchi one of his videos from his private collection that he thought the blonde would like.

"Of course I did. Your Grandpa's stuff is awesome Yugi, it wasn't even censored; must have been foreign." Jonouchi replied as he thought back fondly on the video, it had been one of the best that he had ever seen, not a single piece of pixelization anywhere and contained everything that he liked when it came to his porn. It was a good thing that his old man would be working the late shift for the next week as Jonouchi planned to spend every moment that he could memorising the video while he still had it in his possession. "I'll make sure to give it back soon."

"I don't think he's in a rush to have it back Jonouchi." Yugi told him as she thought about her Grandpa's collection. The whole thing took up the majority of her Grandpa's wardrobe and nearly 1/3 of their attic, made up of both videos and magazines from all around the world the collection must have cost him a fortune. The fact that Yugi knew where her Grandpa kept his stash just made her even weirder compared to other teens her age, no teen should know where their guardian's porn stash was but seeing as Yugi was the only one to clean the house she was forced to face the collection at least once a month. Her Grandpa had even told her unprovoked one day that he bought the foreign video's so that he could see the 'good stuff', telling her that he had a friend abroad who would send the videos alongside new games for him, why he needed to tell her that she didn't know but it resulted in her refusing to even open any new packages for over a year in case she accidentally came across one.

"Hey look." Jonouchi suddenly cried out as the pair reached the school gates, interrupting Yugi's thoughts and causing her to look in front of her rather than at the concrete beneath their feet. Parked in front of the school was a large white van with weird looking windows that reflected an image of her and Jonouchi right back at them, although the picture was slightly warped. The van also had the words Z TV printed on the side in red, a tv studio that Yugi had never heard about before now. "Wonder why it's here. Maybe a famous person is a student here."

"Maybe, who knows they might be hiding in disguise from the press." Yugi replied to Jonouchi's suggestion, doing her best to hide her knowing smile. Yugi had heard about a certain celebrity joining Domino High straight from the horse's mouth that summer when they had hung out, finding out that he would, in fact, be starting in her year and also be a member of her class just so that he could watch out for her when he actually attended classes. The rest of the student body wouldn't find out about their famous classmate until he attended his first class however, the teen being too busy running a company to be in class most days.

"What a scoop that would be. I'm going to take a look inside" Jonouchi spoke before he ran off towards the parked van, pressing his face against the windows to try and take a peek inside. However, no matter how close he managed to get to the window he was unable to see inside, instead he simply found his own reflection staring back at him rather than the face of a celebrity. "I can't see anything, it's just a one-way mirror."

"Don't worry Jonouchi, maybe you'll see them later."

* * *

"Good morning everyone. It's time for 'Survival Morning." The blonde reporter spoke as she stared directly at the camera. She was Z TV latest pretty face that they had hired in an attempt to boost their poor ratings, and if she didn't bring in new viewers then she was easily replaceable by some other young actress trying to make it in the business. Because of this she followed the director's orders without question, plastering her face in makeup and styling her hair in such a way that she could hardly recognise herself in the mirror. It had been upsetting at first, listening to the director's comments about how she wasn't sexy enough to be on television without changing the way she looked but she had gotten used to his comments, simply throwing them into the back of her mind so that she could continue on with the show; knowing that if she didn't she would be blacklisted in the business and never find work again. "Today's exclusive is 'Caught on camera! School sexual assault'. Our undercover agents have discovered that there is an above average number of students reporting that they have been sexually assaulted in this school that stands behind me."

"Cut! We'll fill in the rest with some shots of some kids getting assaulted. You can go home now reporter." The director shouted from his seat next to the camera as he watched the reporter walk away. The director had once been one of the best in the business, able to make fight and R rated scenes look so realistic on camera no matter if he was working with professional actors or up and comers. What most people in the business didn't know however was that the majority of his scenes didn't include actors, he simply used real people and real situations to capture just what he needed on camera. However, that life had all come crashing down several months ago when one of the 'actors' that he had filmed had told the world the truth, resulting in him losing his job with the only people willing to hire him being second rate tv stations like the one he worked at now. "Where's my A.D"

"Here sir." A young man wearing a bandana spoke as he put down the equipment he had been carrying so that he could walk over to the director. When he finally stood in front of the man he was handed a photograph of a short teenage girl standing just outside of the entrance of the school they were recording at. She wore the same uniform that he had seen the male students wear however it was quite obvious that she was female when you looked closely, perhaps if she styled her hair differently she wouldn't be so easily mistaken for a boy on first glance. "Not my type but still a cutie."

"She's one of the students that goes her, find her and bring her to me." The director told his A.D as he lent back against his chair. The director had spotted the tri coloured haired teen earlier that morning while waiting inside of the company van, looking out for an actor to fit the role the newest segment. He had been sat there most of the morning thinking that he wouldn't find anyone perfect for the role until he had seen her standing near the school entrance, quickly snapping a picture of her so that they would be able to find her later on for her big debut. "The public wants reality TV, you've got a documentary element and you've got violence. It's perfect. If we catch her getting assaulted on camera then our ratings will go up for sure."

"But how will we get that footage?" The A.D asked as he shoved the photo into his pocket, knowing that he would need it later so that he made sure he found the right girl. In response to the A.D's words the director stood up from his seat and smacked the younger man over his head with the script he had been holding as hard as he could.

"You still don't get it and you've been working in the business for almost 6 months. Go find a school jacket that fits you and go find that girl" The director scolded the A.D as the younger man rubbed the back of his head where the script had hit him. "Now's your chance to be on camera kid! You're going to play the part of the assaulter!"

* * *

"Thank the gods you're here." Sugoroku told the young man who had stepped through the front door of the game shop. It had been little over an hour since his granddaughter had arrived home from school, held tightly in the safe embrace of her new friend Jonouchi. For a moment Sugoroku had thought that the pair had been attacked by that thug Ushio once more when he saw how beaten up Jonouchi was, his face bruised and his bottom lip cut. However, before Sugoroku could ask either of the teens about what happened Yugi jumped out of Jonouchi's arms, sprinting past the pair until she was safe upstairs inside of her room. For a few seconds Sugoroku stood in the game shop unsure of what had just gone on until he caught sight of a tattered piece of white cloth that hadn't been on the floor seconds prior.

The second that Sugoroku saw the piece of ripped school shirt his blood run cold, knowing in an instant that his granddaughter had suffered through a trauma that he had prayed she would never have to go through. Upon realising what had happened to Yugi Sugoroku had wanted to run up after her, to provide her with comfort and support however he feared that if he chased after her now he would find himself faced with a locked door and a granddaughter unwilling to answer any questions that he had.

And so instead he turned to Jonouchi for answers, hoping that the boy would fill him in on what had gone on that day at school rather than leave it for Yugi to describe later. However, Jonouchi was a rather strong-willed young man, not wanting to tell Sugoroku a single piece of information; ashamed of himself for not being able to save Yugi from her fate. This silence lasted for a good 10 minutes before Jonouchi final cracked, revealing to the old man everything that he knew when they both heard Yugi's whimpers as she walked across the upstairs landing.

Jonouchi's story began not long after lunch when he noticed that Yugi's cheerful nature had soured, not seeing her smile once throughout the rest of their classes; even when she had received a 100 on her test. And so, when Yugi had rushed out of the classroom door instead of waiting for Jonouchi so that they could walk home together he began to investigate, looking through Yugi's desk after all the other students had left the room. Jonouchi hadn't found much, a pencil case, two notepads and a small diary filled with all the important dates for the school year such as when the exams were and when they were expected to get their results back. However just as Jonouchi was about to close the desk lid he noticed a piece of paper sticking out from underneath the notebooks that looked out of place. Upon reading the note Jonouchi felt himself becoming angrier than he had ever felt in a matter of seconds. Rather than thinking it over Jonouchi began running as fast as he could, ignoring the shouts he got from his fellow students or the school faculty.

Someone had threatened Yugi telling her that unless she went to the back of the school after the final bell rung her greatest secret would be revealed to the entire student body. Jonouchi didn't know what Yugi's greatest secret was nor did he have any idea what it could possibly be, however he knew that Yugi was currently alone with whoever had written the letter and Jonouchi couldn't leave her there. Jonouchi had played the role of the mysterious writer more than once back in middle school, the gang that he had been a part of using the exact same tactic to draw out high schoolers to fight. Although Jonouchi doubted that whoever had written the letter wanted to fight Yugi, not that that thought helped calm Jonouchi's fears in any way.

By the time Jonouchi reached the back of the school he was already too late, finding Yugi kneeling down on the ground clutching the tattered remains of her shirt to herself in an attempt to cover herself up. The second Jonouchi had seen Yugi he acted, running over to her side so that he could hand her his jacket before turning towards a man that he hadn't recognised; ready to beat him to a pulp for what he had done. However before Jonouchi had the chance to throw a single punch another man had stood up from behind a bush, a cameraman right at his heels recoding everything that had happened. It turned out that Yugi had been chosen by a sleazy director to play an 'actor' in his latest news segment about sexual assault, with the attacker being played by the director's A.D who had snuck into the school so that he could draw Yugi out for the footage.

When Jonouchi was done with his story he began apologising to Sugoroku like crazy, telling the old man how sorry he was that he hadn't been fast enough to stop what had happened, that he should have fought back harder against the director; that he should have saved her. It took some time but Jonouchi eventually calmed down, allowing Sugoroku thank the teen for running to Yugi's aid and for carrying her home. Without Jonouchi Yugi would have been left at the hands of the director to perhaps suffer a worse fate than what she had gone through and would have been forced to walk home in her tattered uniform rather than covered up from the looks of passers-by that Jonouchi had protected her from.

As it became clear to the pair that Yugi wouldn't be coming out of her room anytime soon Jonouchi decided to head home, knowing that he couldn't do anything more to help her. After saying one final apology he began making his way home, not caring about the cold that he felt from being jacketless.

When Jonouchi had finally disappeared into the distance Sugoroku set to work on a plan that would not only get Yugi to leave her room but also get her to talk about what had happened; knowing that his granddaughter would remain silent about her ordeal rather than seek help willingly. And so Sugoroku contacted the only person other than himself that Yugi truly trusted, knowing that the teen would be better at persuading Yugi out of her room so that they could talk and discuss what they could do to help her better than he ever could.

"Sorry I wasn't able to get here sooner." The young man spoke as he placed his briefcase on the floor before taking off his dark blue trench coat. The young man in question was none other than Seto Kaiba, the 17 year old president of Kaiba Corp which he had taken over several years prior. It was hard to believe that these future rivals were friends, especially when a person took into account Kaiba's egocentric and arrogant personality. They were from two completely different worlds, in theory they should have never even been in the same room as each other. And yet Seto Kaiba was Yugi's oldest and dearest friend, having met him not long after she had found the Millennium Puzzle when she was a child. "Has she come out of her room yet?"

"She came out for a moment awhile ago but since then nothing." Sugoroku confided in the teen as they began making their way up the flight of stairs, the only destination in their mind being Yugi's bedroom. When Seto had answered Sugoroku's phone call he hadn't expected to hear that Yugi had been assaulted however the second the word had left Sugoroku's mouth Seto was off, cancelling the remaining meetings that he had that day before making his way to his car, driving like a madman to reach the Muto residence; honestly he was lucky that he hadn't been stopped for speeding.

How could something so horrible have happened to her, how could he have not been there? He had joined Domino High School so that he could protect her, thinking that he would have the time to run a successful company while also attending classes most days. It had been different when she had been in middle school, he had just taken over Kaiba Corp and was in the middle of transforming it into a gaming company so he had no time for attending classes that he had long surpassed.

And yet despite the fact that Kaiba Corp had been a gaming company for over a year now and he was able to leave the day to day running of his company to his board of directors he found himself busier than usual working simultaneously on his virtual video game world and Kaiba Land. He and Yugi had been seeing less and less of each other in the past year compared to when they were children, and back then he had to sneak out to see her in case Gozaburo found out about their friendship. But despite that lack of communication the friendship that they felt for one another never lessened.

Upon reaching Yugi's room Seto and Sugoroku shared a look, knowing that a battle waited for them behind the door; Yugi would rather suffer in silence than talk about what had happened to her willingly. However as they stood there in the hallway waiting for Yugi to open the door they heard only silence from behind her door, no sound of her chair moving or any creaking coming from the floorboards; it was like there was no one there at all. Fearing the worst Sugoroku took out the spare key to Yugi's room and opened her door, finding the room completely empty asides from the tattered school shirt that lay on Yugi's bedroom floor.

* * *

Tears ran down Yugi's cheeks as she stared out into the distance, focusing her gaze on the way the tree branches moved against the fading sunlight. Yugi was currently sitting cross-legged on an old bench covered from top to bottom in moss and overgrown plants, caring little about how much of a pain it would be later to get the stains out of her clothes. Her clothes, a plain grey t-shirt and black leggings that she couldn't even remember putting on before she snuck out of the house, had she been in that much of a rush to escape that she didn't notice how thin the clothes were that she put on; she hadn't even grabbed a jacket to combat the cold April weather. And yet despite how freezing it was the Millennium Puzzle felt warm against Yugi's chest, offering her a sense of comfort that she desperately needed.

Yugi wasn't sure just how long it had been since she had hidden herself away, however, she figured that it must have been hours seeing as the sun had almost set. It had been nearly 4 years since Yugi had last visited the small wood like area and yet it was as if nothing had changed since the days of her childhood. Had no one else walked by and disturbed anything in all that time? When she was younger the woodland had been her sanctuary that Yugi could hide away in to escape her bullies, spending hours sitting on the bench listening to the sounds of nature as she read books and played with puzzles, knowing that no one would interrupt her, until the day that all changed; the day she had meet Seto.

She had been so young and innocent when they first meet, still uncorrupted by the cruelty in the world but that all changed the second that she had seen the collar around Seto's neck. He had stepped into her world so unexpectedly, running from the monster that was Gozaburo Kaiba so that he could have just a moment of peace and rest that he had been denied for months. In the span of a few hours the pair found themselves becoming the best of friends and their views of the world changing forever. Yugi saw that monsters existed in the world rather than just inside the stories that she read and Seto learned that he had someone else asides from his brother who cared about him.

 _Seto_. Seto. He would find her soon, her Grandpa would have contacted him as soon as he realised that she was missing, knowing that if anyone could find her it would be her oldest friend who knew her better than the back of his own hand, plus he had the resources and manpower at his fingertips to search the city better than the authorities ever would. Yugi just wished that she had more time to calm down and for her aches and pains to soothe before he found her, not wanting to worry him any more than she already had and how much more concerned he would be when she let him know the reason behind her running away.

"Yugi." Upon hearing the sound of her name being called out Yugi turned her head until she was facing the source of the voice. Standing there, amongst the trees was none other than Seto, who looked so scared and worried that for a second Yugi thought they were back in time as children once again; reliving one of the worst days of both of their lives. But that day was long behind them and Gozaburo had been dead and buried for years unable to harm either of them ever again. And yet the pain in Seto's eyes reminded Yugi so much of the way he had looked at her back then when they had received their scars caused by that monster masquerading as a man.

As he drew closer Yugi used the little strength that she had to stand up, wanting to meet Seto halfway rather than force him to come to her. Now that she had been found Yugi wanted nothing more than to go back home and rest, the feeling of security that the woods had given her had disappeared completely now that Seto had arrived, knowing that he would keep her safe instead. However, after taking a few steps towards him Yugi found herself unable to move, having practically no strength left in her body asides from lifting her hand so that she could grab onto the bench to stop herself from falling onto the ground below.

As soon as he saw Yugi begin to fall Seto rushed forward to catch her, her limp body crashing against his chest as he held onto her tightly, not knowing what he should do now that he had her in his arms. Seto knew that he would help Yugi through this any way that he could, not caring about how long it would take or how much money it would cost him, he would not allow her to go through this alone. There were only two people in his life that Seto could say that he truly cared about, that he loved despite how hard Gozaburo had tried to beat the emotion out of him, his younger brother and Yugi; and Seto would do everything within his power to keep them safe and happy.

For the longest time the pair simply stood there, the world changing around them until the sun had set completely and the moon had begun to appear in the sky. The entire time neither teen spoke, instead holding on to the other in a tight embrace unsure of what they should do next. Yugi's face was currently resting against Seto's chest while she silently cried, her tears staining his white shirt. Meanwhile, Seto had moved so that one of his hands could gently trace Yugi's back while the other fiddled with her hair, all in an attempt to hopefully calm her down. It wasn't until Yugi spoke for the first time in hours that the silence was broken, finally having the courage to let the truth that she had tried to ignore pass her lips.

"I can't remember anything."

* * *

"She remembers nothing?" Sugoroku asked Seto as he finished making the pair of them a cup of tea each, the only thing that Yugi trusted him to make knowing that he couldn't set anything on fire. The two teens had arrived back at the game shop just under half an hour ago, with Yugi sleeping peacefully in Seto's arms as if nothing had happened that day; which in her mind nothing had. After working together to place her into bed without waking her up the two men had retreated down the stairs so that they could let her rest and talk without interrupting her sleep, both hoping that she would have pleasant dreams rather than relive the horrors that she had faced earlier that day. When the pair had at last reached the bottom of the stairs and were far enough from Yugi that they wouldn't wake her up Seto finally broke his silence and began to spill to Sugoroku everything that he knew.

"She doesn't even remember waking up this morning." Seto told the older man as he took the cup that he was offered and placed it on the table, Sugoroku might be able to drink the swill that he made but Seto never made the same mistake twice. As soon as Yugi had revealed to Seto that she could no longer remember what she had done that day the floodgates opened and she began babbling while sobbing her heart out. Yugi began to tell him that the last thing that she could remember was sitting at her desk the night before reading and analysing a George Elliott poem for her English class, she wasn't even able to remember falling asleep in her own bed. The next thing she knew she was climbing out of her window, wanting to get away from the game shop as fast as she could though she had no idea why she wanted to escape so badly.

It was hard for one of the two males to imagine what Yugi was going through, no longer having any memories of what they believed to be the worse day of her life. To think that every trace of what the director had done to her had been removed from her mind, it was both a blessing and a curse. True she no longer knew what she had been put through that day after school but now she had lost a whole day of her life without having any idea why, and neither male had any plans to tell her the truth of what she went through that day anytime soon.

"I wonder…" Sugoroku spoke as he let his mind drift back to his youth and his fated trip to Egypt. Since entering the world of gaming Sugoroku had heard tales of a legendary game room hidden away in the Valley of The Kings, where untold honour awaited the one who conquered the most dangerous tomb in all of Egypt; the Tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh. And so, deciding that he would find no better challenge to his gaming mastery in the world of the living Sugoroku set forth to take on the Pharaoh's trails. However, Sugoroku never anticipated that he would be betrayed by his guides, nor that he would be left hanging onto the edge of a walkway for his life. For a moment as he supported himself as best he could with only one arm Sugoroku thought that his life would end there, his goal just within reach and yet he would never be able to see it. He would never see the Millennium Puzzle that he had worked so hard for, never complete the greatest game in existence and never see the face of his beloved ever again.

But before Sugoroku could lose his grip on the walkway a figure appeared to him out of nowhere, calling him a name that wasn't his own as the figure reached out to help him up. The next thing he knew Sugoroku was laying safely on top of the walkway with the Millennium Puzzle sitting atop a pedestal not 50 steps away from where he laid. For years Sugoroku had thought that the figure had been nothing but a figure of his imagination brought on by his blood loss however now he wasn't so sure.

It wasn't until almost an hour later when Yugi finally returned home, silently moving through the house as if she was walking on air all the while failing to notice Sugoroku watching her from the landing. In those brief moments before Yugi ventured into her room Sugoroku observed her strange behaviour noticing how differently Yugi carried herself with every step she took. It wasn't like Yugi to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night, in fact, Sugoroku was fairly certain it had never happened before that night, Yugi was a good girl, she wouldn't just run off in the middle of the night without telling him. But the strangest thing about Yugi was how different she looked. True Sugoroku only had less than a minute before his granddaughter was back in her room but he swore that Yugi had gained several inches in height despite the fact that she was wearing a pair of flat boots.

This strange behaviour continued all the next day as well before finally disappearing altogether. There were moments through the day when Sugoroku would see Yugi fiddling with her fingers or hair in a way she would never do as if she didn't know the only limitations of her body. By the end of the day Sugoroku had seen Yugi try to reach the highest shelf in their kitchen by jumping (they had bought a stool for that purpose), tie her hair up in one of his bobbles which would only last 5 minutes in her hair before snapping and then to top it off Yugi nearly burned down the kitchen attempting to cook dinner (his favourite, Tamagoyaki which she could cook blindfolded).

But the most damning piece of evidence was the brief moment when Sugoroku saw the figure that he had believed to be a figment of his imagination standing in the place of his granddaughter. It had only lasted a second while the two were saying goodnight to each other before going to bed but Sugoroku swore that he had seen the mysterious figure waving goodnight to him dressed in Yugi's pyjamas before she returned to his field of vision. It was right then that he knew that something had happened to his granddaughter, and it all had something to do with the Millennium Puzzle.

"Last week Yugi completed the Millennium Puzzle." Sugoroku announced.

"I know I saw her wearing it." Seto replied as he continued to look at Sugoroku with confusion, what did the puzzle have to do with what had happened to Yugi. The puzzle was Yugi's prize possession, for years he had watched her fiddle with the piece whenever he was able to sneak out of the mansion so that they could hang out together. Since the day she had shown him the golden puzzle Seto knew how much she had wanted to complete it, telling him that it was her life's goal to finish the elusive puzzle and have her wish granted. "I'm proud of her, she's waited years for this. But what does the puzzle have to do with what happened today."

"Because she has been acting strange ever since Seto." Sugoroku told him as he took a large gulp of his coffee. He knew Seto would never believe a thing that he said, the boy had never believed in things such as destiny or fate. The younger man believed in one thing alone, that the future was yours for the making and that no one else could influence it, there was no such thing as magic or gods. He had even initially refused to go out with them to temple one year when he had managed to sneak out at New Years, though he quickly changed his mind when he had seen how upset his answer had made Yugi. "The Millennium Puzzle is rumoured to have a dark power enwoven into its pieces and I fear that power was released when Yugi completed it."

"You honestly expect me to believe that hocus pocus." Seto scoffed at the old man's words as he stood up and prepared to leave. He wasn't about to sit there and discuss the idea that Yugi had lost her memories because of magic. Magic didn't exist, it was all cheap parlour tricks and illusions meant to fool those stupid enough to believe it, which he most certainly didn't. Seto Kaiba was an engineer and programmer, a man of science not magic and he would not believe for one second that the stuff had anything to do with Yugi, she suppressed her memory from trauma that's all; just like he had done for years. "Magic doesn't exist."

"You haven't seen how she's been acting Seto." Sugoroku told the teen as he reached out to grab the brunette's wrist in an attempt to stop him from leaving. However as soon as he felt the older mans hands on him Seto flinched away, causing a deafening silence to seep into the Muto kitchen. Human contact was not something that Seto was acquainted with anymore, the years of abuse at the hands of his stepfather had lead to that. He wasn't completely cut off from contact though, as long as he was prepared for it Seto could handle another person's touch however unexpected contact always made him flinch away. There were only two exceptions to this, his younger brother and Yugi and even they had to be careful when around him.

"Why let her have the puzzle if it was rumoured to be cursed?" Seto suddenly asked breaking the silence between the pair, however he still hadn't turned to face Sugoroku again. He didn't believe a single word that Sugoroku had said about a dark power but he had to know why (if it was true which it wasn't) the older man would risk giving the puzzle to Yugi if he knew it could potentially be dangerous. "Why let her finish it?"

"I didn't think she would ever do it." Sugoroku replied in a guilt-filled whisper. He knew his granddaughter was intelligent and always seeking new knowledge but he had believed for years now that the Millennium Puzzle was too much for her, it had been for him. During those first few years when he had hidden the puzzle away for safety he would venture up into the attic to see if he could complete his prize, however much like Yugi he had found none of the pieces would ever seem to fit together. For years he tried to finish the puzzle until a great tragedy befell his family, his wife, son and daughter in law all taken from him leaving only him and Yugi to carry on the Muto name. After that day Sugoroku gave up trying to complete the puzzle and had never expected to see it again until Yugi had found it when she was a child and asked if she could keep it for herself. "All those who had tried to solve it before her were much older and wiser Seto. Can you blame me for thinking that my 15 year old granddaughter would complete a 3000 year old puzzle that is…was beyond human knowledge?"

"Let's say for a moment that the puzzle is really cursed and magic exists, why wipe her memories." Seto asked, still refusing to believe for one second that the puzzle was anything more than an artefact.

"To protect her." Sugoroku answered the younger man. It was the only explanation that Sugoroku had for Yugi's lost of memories and strange behaviour, the puzzle had done something to her and in return it was protecting her. Why had he ever allowed for her to grown attached to the thing, he should have sold it while he had the chance at least that way it would be far away from their house and he would have some extra cash to help out the shop. If only he had forbidden her from even touching the Millennium Puzzle this could have all been avoided. But then there was also the unspoken question, what if he had taken the puzzle off her all those years ago. Would what had happened the week before and today even had occurred, or would she be in a worse position then she was now, remembering everything that had been done to her by the director. But that wasn't the case she was safe and it was all thanks to the Millennium Puzzle and the figure that he had seen back in Egypt. "The spirit just wants to protect her, just like you do."

"I'm going home, call me if she needs me." Seto told Sugoroku as he marched out of the kitchen, not wanting to hear any more nonsense about magic despite being the one to ask about it. So her behaviour had changed a little over the past few days, she was a first year in high school with only himself and a girl named Anzu to call her friends it made sense that she would try and change her behaviour now to make new friends and gain some popularity. And as for the idea that there was a spirit inhabiting the puzzle wanting to protect her, it was a bunch of hocus pocus. Her mind had suppressed her memories that was all it was not possession. "By the way, you're not planning on telling Yugi what happened are you?"

"If possible I'll keep her in the dark for the rest of her life." Sugoroku replied as he watched the brunette put on his dark blue trench coat. He had meant every word, he had no plans on telling Yugi what had happened to her today as long as she no longer had any memory of it, anytime she asked he would just tell her that she had banged her head really hard and lost the day; tell her that a box had fallen off a shelf in the storage room and knocked her out. He would never willingly tell her what the director had done to her as long as she had no recollection of the day's events.

"That boy…Jonouchi. You'll have to talk to him about what's happened to Yugi, he can't let it slip and cause her to remember." Seto spoke as he picked up his briefcase and headed towards the front door of the shop. Seto had no idea that Yugi had managed to gain another friend until Sugoroku had told him, although seeing as he had been so busy that they had only been able to have one 5 minute phone call together in the past 2 weeks he couldn't blame Yugi for not telling him, though he would have to conduct a background check on the other teen. "Goodnight."

However before Sugoroku had the chance to reply Seto was already out the door and heading towards to his car, reaching inside of his trench coat pocket as he went. As soon as he was safely alone Seto brought out the mobile phone from his inside pocket and began to call his butler to address some business that he needed to attend to tonight.

"Hobson, I want you to get rid of a certain director as discreetly as possible."


	5. The Apology Song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been made up of old chapters that have since been deleted, rewrote and added to this one. If you wish to read the old versions of these chapters than simply message me and I will send them over to you. This chapter was made up of the original versions of chapters 18-22.

"Next stop, Domino High School." Yugi heard the driver's voice ring out over the intercom as she attempted to keep her footing on the busy bus, bumping into the person next to her on accident as she went. The bus was packed to its limit, no one having an inch to move without hitting the person beside them, in Yugi's case hitting her head seeing as she reached most peoples elbows, damn Muto genes. As well as cause her injury Yugi's short stature left her unable to hold onto the hanging straps above that were meant to help the passengers keep balance, meaning that she had absolutely nothing to hold onto as the bus rocked about and turned corners.

Now, most mornings Yugi would walk to school rather than take the bus, in fact for the past few days she had been walking to school every morning with Jonouchi by her side. However, because of the downpour of rain currently going on outside Yugi had decided to take the bus instead, especially after she found out that her Grandpa had broken their shared umbrella and hadn't said anything about it, instead he had just shoved it into the cupboard under the stairs and walked away without telling her that she needed to buy a new one.

And so here Yugi was, stood between two other students unable to hold onto anything for support, at least now she finally had a moment to herself to think about what had gone on two days ago, when she had lost a whole day of her life. From the moment she had woken up the day before Yugi hadn't been given more than five minutes to be alone. Her Grandpa had stayed by her side most of the morning and afternoon, only really letting her out of his sight to get dressed and go for a shower, she even had to study with him in their living room rather than at her desk. Jonouchi hadn't been much different, spending the whole school day practically glued to her side and had even walked with her both in the morning and back home when the school day was over. Even Seto had taken up an hour of her time, talking to her over the phone about his latest business deals and all the new plans he had made about Kaiba Land and his virtual reality magnum opus. And while she understood their concern Yugi found it all a little overprotective, all she did was bang her head she didn't need to be fussed, especially not to the extent that had happened yesterday.

_'I hope I'm on the right bus.'_  Yugi thought to herself as she looked around the bus to see if she was able to recognise anyone. Yugi was certain she was on the number 64 but after accidentally getting on the wrong bus as a child and ending up miles away from home she was always a little weary about getting lost, not wanting to repeat the experience ever again. However, these thoughts were quickly forgotten about when Yugi finally recognised a mop of blonde hair that stood not far to the side of where she was standing.

"Good morning Hanasaki." Yugi called out to the other teen. Tomoya Hanasaki was a member of Yugi's class that sat in the desk in front of her in most of their classes, the blonde always managing to get the very last front row seat before Yugi could during their first lessons; which decided the seating arrangments for the rest of the year. Yugi didn't know much about Hanasaki asides from the fact that he sat in front of her, having only ever said hello to him a few times since the school year had started. Although Yugi had to admit that they were two of a kind, both of them being practically invisible in class most of the time and unnoticed by the majority of their classmates. However instead of responding to Yugi's greeting Hanasaki simply turned away from her completely until he was facing the window, refusing to even acknowledge her presence

_'Did he just ignore me? Or is it so crowded that he didn't realise it was me?'_

"EMERGENCY STOP!" The bus driver suddenly shouted over the intercom, abruptly stopping Yugi's thoughts just before she was sent flying backwards towards the end of the bus as the vehicle came to an immediate stop. In the end, Yugi was sent plummeting to the floor, only catching herself from falling on her face when she was just inches away from the ground. As Yugi knelt there waiting for the bus to move again so that she didn't fall over a second time Yugi noticed how alone she was at the back of the bus, the place practically empty asides from one other person; Sozoji from Class C.

As Yugi slowly began to retreat back into the safety of the hoard of other passengers she was suddenly blasted by the sound of the worst song that she had ever heard, with the source of the music appearing to come from the headphones that Sozoji wore. How the other teen hadn't gone deaf already listening to his music so loud that Yugi could have sworn that it was coming from the massive radio he was lugging around rather than his earphones Yugi didn't know nor did she really care at this moment. She needed to get as far away from Sozoji before he opened his eyes and noticed her and his loud 'music' was the perfect cover for her escape.

"Hold it right there Yugi." Sozoji's voice suddenly rung from behind Yugi just as she was about to reach the group of other passengers, if only she had been a little faster she might have escaped his sight. Why did she suddenly have such bad luck going on in her life, first it was Ushio blackmailing her then ending up banging her head and losing a day and now this, sitting next to the guy with the worst voice in the whole school. "The place next to me is free, why not join me. There's something I wanted to talk to you about."

Knowing that she couldn't escape him now without putting herself at risk of a beating Yugi put on the brightest fake smile that she could muster and made her way over to the taller and far stronger teen and sat down beside him, giving Sozoji a small thank you before placing her school bag between the two of them, not liking the bad feeling that she suddenly felt when she had taken a seat. The pair sat there at the back of the bus far from anyone's view in silence for a few minutes before Sozoji spoke again, confirming that the bad feeling that Yugi had was well founded.

"It's about time for another one of my famous 'All Night Solo Live Shows'. I bet you've missed my beautiful voice haven't you." Sozoji asked which Yugi could only nod her head at to answer, not knowing if she could actually voice a yes without letting slip that she was lying. The 'All Night Solo Live Show' or as the other students called it 'Sozoji's Feared Monthly Recital' was the worst experience that you could go to. What happened was that Sozoji would book a karaoke room and display to the audience (that he made pay for tickets that they didn't want) his beloved singing voice until the early hours of the morning. Yugi had already experienced two of Sozoji's shows back in middle school, sadly going to the same school as the music-obsessed teen, although she had been lucky compared to some of the other audience members who had been physically sick for days after watching one of his shows. "So anyway, Yugi I want you to sell 10 tickets for the show."

"What!" Yugi practically shouted upon hearing his words. She couldn't go around selling other students tickets, she could hardly ask someone for help at the supermarket never mind talk to her classmates and persuade them into buying a ticket to the worst show on earth. While she might have had limited interactions with Sozoji over the years surely if he could remember her name he could also remember how much of a stuttering mess she had been during the times they did talk, she wouldn't be able to sell a single ticket.

"It's 2000 yen each but to hear my singing voice that's cheap. The gig is set for three days from now, and try to get a 6:4 ratio of girls to boys." Sozoji began as he took out a set of tickets from his inside jacket pocket and tucked them into the side of Yugi's school bag. 2000 yen certainly was cheap, much cheaper than the tickets he used to sell at middle school, Yugi remembered paying 10,000 yen for a ticket once when she hadn't been brave enough to say no to the other teen; too afraid of being beaten up by Sozoji just like she feared would happen now if she refused to help him. "You know what will happen to you if you don't sell those tickets right Yugi?"

With every crack of Sozoji's knuckles, the feelings of dreed inside Yugi grew stronger, why did these things keep happening to her.

* * *

"Morning Yugi!" Jonouchi called out as he walked through the classroom door and headed toward his tri coloured haired friend, quickly dropping his school satchel on top of his desk as he went. He was a little surprised to find that Yugi had left without him that morning to go to school on her own but after being told the story of the broken umbrella he could understand why she had taken the bus to school rather than wait for him at the game shop. It was a good thing too as his own umbrella only had enough room to cover himself and if Jonouchi had seen Yugi without an umbrella that morning he was certain that he would be soaked through right now, knowing that he would have given Yugi his umbrella so that she didn't suffer the heavy downpour.

"Good morning Jonouchi." Yugi replied softly to her friend as she continued to stare at her desk, her gaze never leaving despite how close Jonouchi had gotten to her. Yugi was too busy trying to hide her fear and anxiety about the events that had gone on that morning by finishing up a copy of her notes from her math class the day before that she had promised Jonouchi, hoping that the work would distract both her mind and her friend from how she was really feeling. However, Yugi had never been the best at hiding her emotions in her voice so it became immediately clear to Jonouchi that something was wrong with his friend the second he had heard her speak.

"You look kinda down, what's wrong?" Jonouchi asked when he finally reached Yugi's side. For a moment, when Jonouchi picked up on Yugi's true emotions he had feared the worst; that she had remembered Monday's events. That night after Yugi was assaulted Jonouchi couldn't sleep, every time he closed his eyes all he could see was the fear in her eyes when he had been unable to save her. He had been ready to kill the director the second that he had seen how terrified Yugi was, he would have happily gone to prison if it meant getting revenge on the man who had caused Yugi such pain. But the director's threat had put a stop to that plan and instead he ended up taking a beating after pausing for too long so that he could take in the director's words.

That whole night Jonouchi had laid awake in his bed dreading the next morning when he saw Yugi again, expecting her to never want to see him again after he failed to protect her. However, when he arrived at the game shop he was quickly corned by Yugi's Grandpa who told him that Yugi no longer remembered what had happened the day before, that she had no memories of her shirt being torn, of being filmed, of him not being able to rescue her. Her Grandpa warned him to be careful with his words however, to not say anything to her about what had happened the day before in case her memories came back. Her amnesia had already disintegrated slightly from last night, now remembering part of yesterday morning rather than nothing at all and her Grandpa didn't want him to let anything slip that could destroy her amnesia altogether.

"It's nothing, just a little down because of the weather that's all." Yugi replied as she finished writing up the notes that she had promised before handing the pages to Jonouchi who shoved them into his inside pockets. Now that Yugi was finally looking at him Jonouchi took a moment to inspect her face to see if he could read her mood. Sure enough, Jonouchi found that Yugi's unique amethyst eyes seemed to have dimmed, no longer shining as brightly as the gemstone they shared their colour with, not only that but Jonouchi also noticed that Yugi's eyes were slightly puffy like she had been crying. To see Yugi this way, it broke Jonouchi's heart. In such a small space of time Yugi had become like a sister to him, a younger sister who needed to be protected at all cost; and he wasn't about to lose another sister when he could do something about it.

"By the way Yugi, I looked into it and it seems there isn't a start at our school." Jonouchi told Yugi in an attempt to get a reaction out of her, hoping that he could distract Yugi from what ailed her if only for a few minutes. Their talk Monday morning was the only thing that Yugi remembered about that terrible day, which meant that she could still recall his comments about finding a hidden celebrity at the school. Of course that was no longer the case now that he knew firsthand why the TV van was parked outside of the school, but Yugi didn't know that anymore and it seemed like a good topic to get a response out of her. "So I've decided to become the first star from this school instead!"

However, Yugi made absolutely no response whatsoever to Jonouchi's words, instead she simply fiddled with the woollen cord that hung the Millennium Puzzle around her neck all the while staring at her now empty desk. Jonouchi didn't like her actions one bit, during their week of friendship Jonouchi had become accustomed to Yugi's ticks and habits that she took on throughout the day, such as how she would fiddle with the sleeve of her school jacket when asked a question or the way she would fiddle with the puzzle whenever she was nervous, just like she was doing now.

"Yugi." Jonouchi suddenly proclaimed as he grabbed a tight hold on the younger girl's shoulders, causing her to look up from her desk to stare straight at him. Yugi had been so busy trying to formulate some kind of plan to sell the tickets that she had been given that she hadn't heard a word of what Jonouchi had been saying, too lost in her own thoughts to pay any sort of attention to anything else going on around her. She should have waited until class started before beginning to plan, at least that way if Jonouchi had seen her deep in thought he would have mistaken it for her working on the class questions not her current plight. "If something is bothering you can tell me. I'm here for you."

"Really Jonouchi, it's nothing. But thanks."

* * *

_'It's the end of the day and I still have all 10 tickets.'_  Yugi thought as placed her school shoes inside of her locker, having already put on her regular shoes beforehand. The small pile of concert tickets were currently resting in her inside jacket pocket, having not moved from the position all day since she had placed them there. That morning, before walking into the classroom Yugi had ended up silently crying inside of a bathroom stall for nearly 5 minutes as she came to terms with her situation, if she didn't do what Sozoji asked of her she would be beaten up again; and her injuries from Ushio were only just beginning to fade away. She couldn't do this, talking to people; it had never been one of her strong suits and now she was expected to excel at the skill to sell tickets in exchange for not being hurt.

_'I'm here for you.'_  Jonouchi's words still rang inside of Yugi's head but she had been too afraid to tell him the truth about what was going on, fearing that if he knew that Sozoji had threatened her then he would go and pick a fight with the Class C student. Yugi had already seen Jonouchi beaten and broken once when Ushio had attacked him and Honda and Yugi couldn't let him come to any harm again, not while she had the power to stop it; she would save him. Luckily Jonouchi had been too busy the rest of the day to notice any more of her depressive behaviour, instead spending his breaks and lunch with Honda so that they could celebrate the brunette's birthday, which hadn't ended well for Jonouchi. He had ended up getting punched in the face by Anzu after the two friends had joined together to flip her skirt up, revealing her underwear to everyone else in the classroom.

After picking up her school bag that had been sat on the floor next to her feet Yugi began to make her way towards the school entrance, thankful that the rain had stopped sometime during lunch. Just as Yugi was about to reach the front door however she noticed a familiar face that she had seen earlier that morning on the bus to school walk out in front of her, perhaps she would be able to sell at least one ticket after all. However just as Yugi started to take one of the tickets out of her pocket with the intention of asking Hanasaki to buy one a thought ran through her head.

_'What am I doing. Just because Hanasaki and I aren't friends or haven't spoken to each other much doesn't mean that I should ask him to subject himself to Sozoji's horrible voice.'_

"Goodbye Hanasaki." Yugi called out after shoving the ticket back inside of her pocket before hurrying forward, planning to get ahead of the other teen so that she couldn't change her mind about asking him to buy a ticket. Why did Sozoji have to ask her of all people to sell his tickets, she was a nervous wreck when it came to saying more than a few words too literally anyone she didn't really know; which was around 99% of the student body. And it's not like Yugi could ask the few students that she did know to buy a ticket to the concert, they would never forgive her for making them suffer one of 'Sozoji's Feared Monthly Recitals'.

"Um Yugi…" Upon hearing Hanasaki call her name Yugi turned around to face the other teen, unsure just what he would want with her, perhaps he wanted to say something about how he had ignored her that morning on the bus. However when she took in the blonde Yugi found much to her surprise that the other teen had within his hands a familiar looking white ticket, the same ticket that Yugi swore she had 10 copies of within her school jacket pocket. "Sorry to bug you but would you buy this ticket from me? Do you know Sozoji in Class C, it's a ticket to one of his recitals. You'd really be helping me if you could buy one, I have five tickets and I haven't managed to sell a single one."

_'I've got more than him'._  Yugi thought to herself as she stared at the ticket in Hanasaki's hand, a little envious of the blonde.

"Are you going Hanasaki? You don't seem all that enthusiastic…" Yugi asked as she fiddled with the Millennium Puzzle. As she stood there waiting for his answer Yugi began to wonder if it was just the pair of them that had been targeted by Sozoji to sell his tickets or if there were other students in the school threatened into doing his dirty work, and if there were did they have more or fewer tickets then her. Why did Hanasaki have only 5 tickets to sell while she had 10, why couldn't they have had the same number at least that way she would have one ticket for every student she had actually had a decent conversation with at some point in her life.

"If I tell you, you might not buy one but I really don't want to go." Hanasaki answered as he looked away from Yugi, no longer having it in him to keep eye contact with her. It had taken every ounce of the little confidence that Hanasaki had to approach Yugi to ask her to buy one of his tickets, and with every word she uttered to continue the conversation Hanasaki's confidence disappeared. He had expected her to give him a simple yes or no answer, not drag out the conversation; he wasn't prepared for this. All Hanasaki wanted to do now was to go home and read his latest Zombire comic that his father had brought back, instead he was trying to sell a ticket to the only other student in the school with the same level of social skills as him; why couldn't this day be over already.

"It was 2000 yen right?" Yugi asked as she reached into her school bag to fetch out her purse, only to remember that she hadn't bought it with her that day, knowing she wouldn't need it seeing as she brought her own lunch. Yugi didn't want them both to suffer Sozoji's voice, Hanasaki hadn't gone to her middle school so he had no experience as to how bad the concert could really be, she couldn't in good consciousness let him go; it would be too dangerous to his health. However, as Yugi thought it over she quickly came up with a solution that would get Hanasaki out of going to the recital. "Sorry I don't have any money on me right now. But how about we do this, you give me all of those tickets. You just need to pass them out don't you, I can do it for you."

"Is that really ok Yugi?" Hanasaki asked sheepishly as he brought out the rest of the tickets from within his own school bag and handed them over to the tri coloured haired teen.

"Yup, this way if you don't want to go then you don't have to Hanasaki." Yugi told him as she placed his set of tickets inside one of the zipper compartments in her school bag, not wanting him to see her own collection of tickets that she had hidden away. At least now Hanasaki wouldn't have to sit through Sozoji's concert, only one of them need suffer after all and why not her, she had experienced his voice twice now and she had been relatively fine afterwards; not like some of the other students who were actually sick after attending. And 15 wasn't that much of a difference to 10, all she had to do was gain some courage and she would hopefully sell all of the tickets before the show on Saturday.

"Thank you Yugi."

* * *

Three nights later Yugi was sat in the private karaoke room that Sozoji had booked all on her own, having not managed to muster enough courage to ask a single person to buy one of her 15 tickets, which still rested in her school jacket back home. As it was finally the weekend Yugi had donned some of her more casual attire rather than wear her uniform again like she often did on her days off. Instead Yugi was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, a long-sleeved black turtleneck and a plain black jacket, knowing that when she did finally leave the karaoke room the cold April weather would be even worse in the wee hours of the morning; and she had almost an hours trip before she would be back home and in the warmth of her bed.

"Yugi. Are you saying that you didn't manage to even sell one ticket?" Sozoji shouted as he grabbed hold of the front of Yugi's jacket before lifting her up high into the air as if she weighed nothing at all, her feet no longer touching the carpeted floor below. Sozoji was beyond pissed at her, he had thought threatening a weak loser like Yugi Muto would have her selling his tickets as fast as she could to avoid his beating, at yet here they were Saturday night with none of the tickets being sold, no one would attend his show.

"I'm sorry Sozoji but everyone was busy tonight. The Duel Monster semi-finals are on after all." Yugi spoke softly before Sozoji let go of her jacket, dropping her back down onto the sofa roughly. It hadn't been the best excuse in the world but it was all she had been able to come up with on such short notice, plus it had been what she had planned to be doing that night before Sozoji had approached her three days ago. Now instead of spending the night watching the tournament with her Grandpa she was stuck in a karaoke room with the worst singer in all of Japan, at least when the night was over she would be able to watch the recording she had asked her Grandpa to make of the duels. "But I'll stay and listen to your songs Sozoji."

"Damn right and you'll stay all night too. And it's gonna be a live show of blood." Sozoji threatened before turning away from Yugi for a moment so that he could pick up a pair of headphones. Upon seeing them Yugi felt a shiver run down her back as she quickly realised that she would be forced to listen to Sozoji sing all night through them, by the time the sun began to rise the next morning Yugi was certain that she would be completely deaf after suffering through such a torture; especially after seeing him quickly turn the volume to maximum when he passed by the equipment.

"Now let's start with my favourite." Sozoji announced before walking over to the stage in the middle of the room while Yugi sat there on the sofa reluctantly putting on the earphones she had been handed. Suddenly without any warning, Sozoji let out a loud howl that had Yugi doubling over in pain, his voice sounding almost inhuman as the beginning of the song began to play alongside him, although the music was nowhere near as loud as Sozoji's voice. From the songs start to end Yugi sat there on the sofa, almost paralysed from the amount of pain she was in listening to Sozoji sing.

"YOW that made me shiver. But before I sing my next song I'd like to introduce a special guest." Sozoji suddenly announced before walking off the stage, leaving Yugi to wonder who he was referring to. Yugi didn't have long to wait however as Sozoji quickly lifted back one of the curtains in the corner of the room, revealing the bruised and beaten body of Hanasaki that had been hidden away behind it. "Look at the poor thing. That must have hurt. It's your fault for stealing his tickets Yugi."

"Hanasaki!" Yugi screamed as she ran towards the teen, dropping to her knees in front of him when she finally reached his side. Yugi couldn't believe what she was seeing, how could Sozoji be so cruel; to beat someone up so badly. The majority of Hanasaki's face was injured in some way or another, both his cheeks were red and swollen, he had two black eyes, his bottom lip was cut and Yugi was certain that his nose was broken as well from how twisted it looked. And those were only the injuries that Yugi was able to see, she dreaded to think how badly beaten the rest of his body looked like under his clothes. "I'm so sorry Hanasaki, I was only trying to help I swear."

"I'm the one who should apologise Y-Yugi." Hanasaki began before gasping in pain, his whole body feeling as if it was on fire from how badly hurt he was. Sozoji had cornered him earlier that night after he had left the safety of his home to run to the store for his mother, taking him to a karaoke room before beginning the beating of a lifetime. It had seemed like an endless stream of punches and kicks had hit his body for an unknown amount of time, Hanasaki having passed out multiple times during the beaten. In the end, when it was finally all over he was thrown against a wall and left there to wallow in his injuries before being covered by a curtain just before Yugi had walked in. He had wanted to warn her, scream at her to run away and not look back so that she would be safe but he hardly had any strength in his body to move let alone talk back then. But now, as he could feel himself begin to drift he had to tell her how sorry he was for getting her into this mess. "You tried to take on my burden, this would have happened no matter what. I'm being punished for trying to sell you that ticket, I'm the one who's sorry."

As Yugi saw Hanasaki's head drop down in unconsciousness she began to feel her whole body become heavy and a massive pain suddenly take place inside her head. As the pain ripped her apart Yugi felt tears she didn't know she had shed drip down her cheek as her vision began to darken and a wave of drowsiness coursed through her whole body. However instead of slumping forward on top of Hanasaki Yugi found that her body was moving on its own, standing up, the complete opposite of what it should have been doing. As the last of Yugi's strength disappeared and she began to feel the pull of the darkness of sleep draw her in she heard a familiar male voice that she couldn't place ring out.

_'I won't forgive you Sozoji.'_

* * *

It was the sound of heels clicking that drew Hanasaki from his deep slumber, with every step echoing in his ears like thunder until he could ignore it no more. At first, Hanasaki mistook the pair of heels to those of his mother, believing that she had come to wake him up so that he could prepare for the school day. However as he continued to regain consciousness it quickly began clear to Hanasaki that wasn't the case, his fantasy was as far from the truth as possible. The warmth that surrounded his body that he had believed to be his bed covers was instead just the heat coming from his injuries keeping him warm in the cold April weather, the wind and the chill in the air hardly affecting him at all.

Another truth that he became aware of as he was brought back into the realm of reality was that he was being carried, his feet dragging behind him as the other person continued to make their way forward. For a moment Hanasaki feared that it was Sozoji holding onto him, planning to dump his body somewhere to die from his injuries to silence him for what the Class C student had done to him earlier that night. However after hearing a gentle voice mutter a small 'Come on' Hanasaki knew that he was safe, that the arms holding onto him and carrying him was a friend, someone he could trust to help him; Yugi Muto.

"Hanasaki. Are you awake?" Yugi asked in a hushed whisper as she continued to make her way through the park she had decided to walk through, unsure if the moan of pain that she had heard was a sign that the blonde teen had woken up or if he was still unconsciousness. Yugi had been so scared after she had awoken on the leather sofa back in the karaoke room to find Sozoji's unconscious body lying across from her, his hands gripping the side of his head to cover his ears so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. As soon as Yugi had been absolutely certain that he was knocked out cold Yugi got to work, collecting her bag and flinging Hanasaki over her shoulder, wanting to get them both as far away from Sozoji as possible; not caring about the destination her feet carried her to. Yugi had no idea what had happened to Sozoji, having seemed to pass out herself when she had seen Hanasaki's beaten up body but she was grateful to the person who had ended up saving them, whoever they were.

"I'm awake." Hanasaki spoke after a moment, unsure if he would end up falling back asleep or not. Upon hearing his answer Yugi made her way over to a bench that wasn't far from the pair and gently sat the blonde teen down, glad that he had survived Sozoji's beating. Yugi had been dragging Hanasaki as far away from the karaoke room that she could manage without any other support to carry him for almost an hour now, however, she had only gotten as far as the park around the corner, the blonde being surprisingly heavier than one might assume.

As Yugi sat down next to him Hanasaki ignored her, instead, he simply took off his jacket so that he could focus his attention on the injuries that he had received earlier that night, though he was grateful that Yugi had left plenty of room between them so that she wasn't touching him. It was a little hard for Hanasaki to make out his injuries properly without his glasses but he made do, knowing that even if he did still have the pair on him they wouldn't be much help, having been practically destroyed by Sozoji while punching him in the face.

Hanasaki found that the worst area also happened to be where he felt the majority of his pain coming from, his chest. In his hazy memory, he remembered that Sozoji had spent a lot of time pounding his chest with his boots repeatedly between his different blackouts, he wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that his ribs were cracked or broken. Nearly every inch of his chest was purple from the bruises already beginning to form on his body, it would take weeks before his injuries finally healed and maybe several trips to the hospital if any of his bones did turn out to be broken in the end.

"I'm so sorry Hanasaki." Yugi suddenly spoke as she reached into her bag and brought out two items, a compact mirror and his broken glasses. He had been right about his glasses, they were completely destroyed, both the lens had been cracked until they had shards missing and the metal that held them together had been twisted so badly that they would no longer sit upon his nose. He took the glasses from Yugi anyway as well as the small compact mirror that she had offered him, holding onto the glasses so he could stare at his reflection in the compact, inspecting the injuries on his face as best as he could through the least cracked lens, he looked worst then he felt.

"I'm sorry to Yugi." Hanasaki replied as he closed the compact, admiring the image of a quill on the front for a moment before handing it back to the tri coloured haired girl. He didn't know what had happened while he had been unconscious, all he knew was that Yugi had ended up facing Sozoji on her own and had walked away unscratched, there wasn't a single mark on her from what he could see, however there were only two parts of her body currently not covered in clothing, her face and hands; for all he knew she could be hiding a myriad of scars underneath her black jacket that Sozoji had caused while he had been knocked out.

"Let's get you home." Yugi suddenly announced as she stood up from her spot on the bench, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she went. Yugi wanted to get out of the park as soon as possible, planning to put some more distance between the two of them and Sozoji in case the Class C student awoke and decided to come after them. Now that Hanasaki had woken up Yugi no longer had to drag him around the streets, meaning that it would now be much easier for the pair of them to get away, it also meant that they could walk to his house. Yugi had no idea where Hanasaki lived so her only plan had been to take him back with her to the game shop, but now that he was conscious again that idea was no longer needed, at least now she wouldn't have to have an awkward conversation with her Grandpa about why she was lugging around an unconscious body.

In the end, it took almost two hours to walk Hanasaki home, the blonde having to stop constantly throughout the journey to rest from the amount of pain he was in. While they walked the pair talked about a number of subjects from their favourite classes to their taste in literature, both of them gushing about their favourite books and characters. Hanasaki spent nearly half an hour introducing Yugi to Zombire, telling her all about his origins and the different comics that his father had brought back with him. In return Yugi told Hanasaki about the current book she was reading, War and Peace, surprisingly Yugi did not have an all-time favourite book of her own despite reading hundreds possibly thousands of them over the years so Yugi didn't have the same amount of passion in her voice as Hanasaki had when talking about Zombire.

Upon arriving at Hanasaki's house the pair froze, neither sure just what they should do now that they had arrived. His father was currently away on business overseas however his mother was still home, in fact, he had only left the house because she had asked him to run to the store to fetch more milk, an errand that he had never returned back from. He had no way of knowing where his mother was now, perhaps she was asleep upstairs completely drained after worrying about his safety for hours on end or maybe she was out searching for him at that very moment and the house was completely empty of anyone. Either way, the two teens knew they had to be careful and quite while entering.

However, before the two teens could make any sort of move the front door to the house swung open, revealing behind it the face of Hanasaki's mother. As soon as she saw her son's injured face Mrs Hanasaki sprung into action, helping Yugi bring the boy inside and sitting him on the sofa before rushing off upstairs to fetch the first aid kit that they had hidden away. While Hanasaki's mother bandaged up her soon Yugi stood in the corner of the room in complete silence, having no idea what to say or do in this type of situation. Instead, she simply watched the duo, noticing the way that Mrs Hanasaki was extra careful after her son let out a gasp or a moan of pain and how the older woman would mutter a small 'It's ok now' whenever she finished wrapping a bandage around his body.

_'So, this is what its like to have a mother.'_  Yugi though to herself as she continued to watch the way the mother and son interacted with each other, envious of the relationship that the pair shared. Having lost her own mother when she was only a month old Yugi had never had such a relationship with a loved one before, not even her own Grandpa. True he had tried his best to fill in for her missing parents however he had never quite gotten a hand at a mothering personality, instead coming off as overprotective more than anything else. Instead of having a mother Yugi had essentially taken on the role in the household, cooking, clean, 'mending', she had been made into a mother by the time she was 10 without having any children.

Growing up she had been bullied because of her status as an orphan, the other children not wanting to sit with her because they thought she was a freak to not have a mother or father waiting to pick her up at the gates. The only person to ever understand what she was going through was Seto and even he had a few years of memories of his mother and father, while all Yugi had was stories and pictures that had been locked away in the attic, her Grandpa not hanging any images of her parents around the house; his grief to great to see his son and daughter in laws faces every day. But the way Mrs Hanasaki acted around her son, it was the way Yugi had always dreamed her own mother would treat her, with a love so clear that the second you saw them together you knew that they were mother and child, an unconditional love that asked for nothing in return; a love that she had been deprived of her entire life.

"Thank you." Mrs Hanasaki muttered as she finished bandaging up the last of her son's injuries, bringing Yugi back to the world of the living once again. Yugi hadn't expected the pair to be done so quickly however from the way that Mrs Hanasaki had wrapped the bandages Yugi assumed that this was either such a common occurrence that she had become proficient that way or that the older woman had a job that had lead to her gaining the skill. As if she could read Yugi's mind Mrs Hanasaki spoke again as she stood up from her spot on the floor, answering the question in Yugi's mind as she went. "I'm a nurse dear. Now let me have a look at you."

"I'm fine honestly." Yugi began before Mrs Hanasaki took a hold of her arm and began to lead her towards the sofa that Hanasaki sat on, not listening to a word she had said. Instead, the older woman began to look over Yugi for injuries while her son watched the two women interact with interest, he had only ever seen his mother treat himself and his father so it was a completely new experience to see her take care of a stranger. However, this treatment stopped when Mrs Hanasaki began to roll up Yugi's sleeves, the younger girl flinching away before her shirt sleeve made it very far up her arm. Mrs Hanasaki, however, was still able to make out the scars that rested along both of her arms before Yugi had managed to get away, and Yugi knew that the older woman had seen them. "They're old."

"I see." Mrs Hanasaki replied before turning towards the first aid kit so that she could close the lid, knowing that the girl who had accompanied her son home had no need for treatment. While the way the mysterious girl's reaction was alarming Mrs Hanasaki knew that she could do nothing for her, the younger girl clearly didn't want to talk about what had happened to her to gain those scars and had no right to pry when she didn't want to say anything, especially with her son in the room. "Now, do you have a name or shall I just call you the mysterious girl for the rest of the night."

"This is Yugi mom." Hanasaki suddenly spoke, finding it awkward to be the only one not to speak since arriving home. Hanasaki hadn't expected Yugi to stay as long as she had, thinking that she would run home the second that she could get rid of him, it was nearly 2 am after all and she had mentioned multiple times during their walk home how worried her Grandpa would be. But instead of rushing home Yugi had remained at his home, silently watching from a corner of the room as his mother patched him up and fussed over his injuries. "Could she stay the night mum, it's too dangerous for her to walk home now."

"Of course she can, as long as she doesn't mind sleeping on the floor."


	6. Opening Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been made up of old chapters that have since been deleted, rewrote and added to this one. If you wish to read the old versions of these chapters than simply message me and I will send them over to you. This chapter was made up of the original versions of chapters 23,24 and half of chapter 25.

"It's finally over, school is so dull." Jonouchi yawned as he roughly shoved his pile of second-hand school books into his satchel, not caring if he bent any of them or crumpled his worksheets as he went. Jonouchi was the complete opposite of his friend Yugi when it came to school work, Yugi seemed to enjoy every lesson she went to, listening attentively to the teacher's words while writing down pages and pages of notes. Jonouchi on the other hand hardly paid attention in any of his classes, not listening to a word that was said and writing down zero notes, in fact, the only notes that Jonouchi had in his possession were ones that Yugi had agreed to write for him. There were some lessons that held Jonouchi's attention and had him working harder than ever however, lessons that allowed for group or paired work. On those days Jonouchi made sure to partner up with Yugi who always managed to keep him focused on the task they had to do and helped him understand the problems when he had no idea how to solve them, plus she always made sure that they got top marks, so he couldn't just sit there not helping her.

"Hey Yugi, wanna get something to eat on the way home? I'm buying." Jonouchi asked his friend as he kicked his chair underneath his desk before making his way over to the tri coloured haired teen, quickly double checking his inside jacket pocket as he went to make sure that the money that he had swiped from his father earlier that morning was still there. It wasn't even his father's money in the first place, it had been Jonouchi's that he had worked hard for, getting up early every weekend to run his paper route and then working a part-time job at the same store for hours just to get paid less than minimum wage. But it was the best job that Jonouchi could get as a high school student and he had no choice but to work or else he would starve, his father spending any and all money that came into the house on liquor; if Jonouchi wanted to eat then he had to work to afford it. However last week Jonouchi's father had caught him counting up his last lot of wages before he could hide them away, resulting in a beating and his wages being taken from him, until that morning anyway when he had taken the cash out of the old man's wallet while he slept.

"That sounds like a great idea Jonouchi." Yugi replied as she carefully placed all of her worksheets inside of a folder, putting them in the order that the classes had been scheduled that day, making sure that she didn't get any mixed up with another subject's work. Yugi was quite peckish that afternoon, having not had any lunch and running solely on two pieces of toast that she had eaten several hours earlier. Yugi and Hanasaki had slept so late into the afternoon the day before from their injuries and late night in general that Yugi didn't have time to head out to the supermarket to get groceries before they all closed, causing her and her Grandpa to order out for their dinner as well as leave her with only semi-hard bread that she had bought Friday for breakfast and nothing to use to make her lunch with. "How about we try Burger World, it just opened up in the city centre. Everyone says their burgers are great."

"You really like burgers, don't you?" Jonouchi asked his shorter friend who simply replied to his question with a quick nod and a small blush. Even though they had only been friends for a short time Jonouchi had picked up on Yugi's love for burgers rather quickly, though it was hard not to seeing as whenever they went out after school the pair almost always ended up going somewhere so that Yugi could have a quick burger. It didn't matter where they had gone beforehand, the arcade, the bowling alley or the markets, Yugi always made time to stop and have a burger whenever the two friends went anywhere. "Awright Burger World it is."

"Um…Yugi…About Burger World…" Anzu mumbled from behind her two friends as she made her way towards them, the nervousness in her voice completely unnoticed by the pair. She couldn't let Yugi and Jonouchi know that she was working at Burger World without the school's permission, she trusted Yugi to keep her secret of course, they were the best of friends and Yugi would never betray her trust that way, Jonouchi, on the other hand, was too much of a blabbermouth to not let the knowledge slip while in the middle of class; she couldn't let him find out the truth.

Anzu had applied for the school's permission the first day of the term however she had been denied a pass because her parents made well above the maximum income allowed for a pass to be approved. What the school didn't understand was that her parents refused to help her with her dream, true they were happy to pay for her dance lessons but when it came to the possibility of helping her pay for schooling in America they refused to even talk about it asides from telling her that if she wanted to go then she would have to pay for it herself. And so Anzu had found herself working at Burger World, saving up her wages for the day she would move to America to live out her dream of dancing on a stage and hopefully hold the honoured title of prima ballerina.

"Are you coming to Anzu?" Yugi asked her friend, unable to hide the excitement in her voice at the idea of Anzu joining them. Since the beginning of the school year, the two friends had found themselves spending less and less time together compared to their middle school days, with Yugi working at the game shop and Anzu attending dance practice more than ever the girls now only saw each other while in class. Before they had become high school students Yugi and Anzu always made some time for each other during the week, either spending their weekend's shopping together or to have Yugi tag along to watch Anzu practice, the pair talking as Anzu stretched and rehearsed her choreography. But Anzu no longer made these plans with Yugi nor would she invite her tri coloured friend to any of her lessons, it was starting to worry Yugi about the distance that had been growing between them because of the limited contact.

"No way! I've heard that place is really terrible. People started getting sick after eating there the day they opened." Anzu warned her friends before making a fake gagging sound to emphasise her point, she couldn't under any circumstances let Yugi and Jonouchi go to Burger World, at least not on one of the days she had a shift. Anzu didn't want to lie to Yugi but it was the only way to make sure she avoided the fast food restaurant, her friend had an obsession with burgers and had tried the majority of the burger shops in Domino City, the only way to keep her away was to lie and say that the burgers were bad, when in fact they were actually really delicious. "You absolutely can't go there Yugi."

"Really? I guess we won't go." Yugi muttered as she began to come up with a list inside her head of the other places that she and Jonouchi could go to instead of Burger World. Yugi had been surprised to hear from Anzu that people had been getting food poisoning after eating at Burger World, she had heard nothing but praise about the restaurant from the people that she had asked. Yugi hadn't had the chance to visit the place herself so instead she had questioned the few friends that she had to get their opinion of the place, both of whom told her that the burger they eat was one of the best they had ever tasted and that she was missing having not tried it; perhaps Hanasaki and Miho had gone on good days. "How about we go to Calorie Burger instead, you know that place in front of the train station."

"Sorry I have chores to do today." Anzu began as she drew Yugi in for a quick hug goodbye before making her way towards the classroom door, wanting to make a run for it so that she wouldn't be late for work. However just as she was about to wave goodbye Anzu remembered the news report that she had watched that morning while eating breakfast and the words that their teacher had given them during homeroom. Knowing Yugi she was probably too busy that morning preparing for the day to have any time to skim the newspaper and most likely didn't listen to the teacher's announcement either, too focused on sorting out her books to pay attention; else she wouldn't have agreed to go out for something to eat. Anzu had to warn her friend. "Besides didn't you hear the teacher this morning, there's an escaped convict running around. We should all go straight home."

"That's right, I completely forgot about the jailbreak last night." Yugi spoke as she turned around to face Jonouchi, giving Anzu the opportunity to sneak out of the classroom unnoticed. How could Yugi have forgotten, her Grandpa had even warned her just before she had left the house that morning. The night before prisoner 777 had escaped from the Domino City Jail, killing a security officer and stealing his gun in the process, everyone in the city had been warned to remain inside and ensure that all their doors and windows were locked. Knowing Yugi's current run of luck if she went out with Jonouchi she would most likely end up coming face to face with the escaped convict, after all if she had to face both Sozoji and Ushio in the span of two weeks luck wasn't on her side at the moment, which meant that she wouldn't be having a burger today nor would she be able to go shopping for groceries either; just her luck.

"What's wrong Yugi are you scared? Seriously you have no guts." Jonouchi teased his friend as he ruffled her hair, finding her reaction rather adorable despite the fact that she had no courage. Even if they did somehow manage to run into the escaped convict, which he hardly doubted would happen as Domino City was massive, Yugi had nothing to worry about while he was by her side, he wouldn't let anyone harm her ever again.

"He has a gun Jonouchi and what do I have to protect myself with, a school bag."

* * *

"Yugi...Hasn't Anzu been acting strange lately?" Jonouchi asked his shorter friend as the pair walked down one of the schools many corridors, surprisingly not running into any other students as they went; it was as if the two friends were the only ones left inside of the building. As soon as the bell had rung at three all of their classmates had rushed out of the door, wanting to get away to the safety of their own homes as soon as possible to ensure that they didn't encounter the escaped prisoner. Yugi had wanted to follow suit after Anzu had warned her, however, Jonouchi had managed to persuade her to continue on with their original plans of getting a bite to eat, promising her multiple times that he would keep her safe no matter who or what they ran into.

This wasn't like the week before with the director, when Yugi had walked into the trap blindly all on her own without knowing or anticipating the dangers that had awaited her; Jonouchi would be by her side at all moments to watch over and guard her. Besides Domino City was massive, with miles of buildings and greenery that the prisoner could hide in, what were the chances that they would run into him at one of the hundreds of restaurants in the city, if the prisoner was smart and wanted to keep his freedom he would wait until nightfall when it would be harder to notice him. Plus Jonouchi wasn't about to let the escapee ruin his afternoon with Yugi, she had done so much for him these past two weeks, helping him out with his school work, bringing him food, being a friend; she deserved to be treated for once and he finally had the money to do so. If they ended up coming face to face with the prisoner he would find himself facing Jonouchi's fist.

"Now that you mention it, she hasn't walked home with us recently." Yugi replied as they walked through the entrance of the school, Jonouchi having been nice enough to open the door for her. Now that she took a moment to really think about it Yugi couldn't remember the last time that she and Anzu had hung out at great length, even during the small break before high school had started the two hardly saw each other; and they had all the time in the world back then to be together. Anzu and Yugi had been practically inseparable since the day their friendship was born but now it seemed as if there was a bridge beginning to build between them and it was all thanks to their hectic schedules. But Yugi wasn't about to let their friendship disappear, she would fight for it with everything she had and she was sure that Anzu would too.

"If my instincts are correct, then Anzu's doing 'Escort Services' after school." Jonouchi proclaimed as he stopped in his tracks, a massive smile on his face from realising the idea. He had heard about some of the female students doing escort services back in middle school, how they would go on dates with older men to earn some money without having to do much asides from walk around with a guy or eat a meal. Though Jonouchi had thought that only the third years took part in escort services, never imagining for a second before this moment that Anzu, a first year who had only been a high school student for a month, would take part in escort services. Sure, Anzu was pretty (not as pretty as Yugi in Jonouchi's opinion) and didn't seem like the type to date someone she didn't actually like, let alone a stranger for money, but she hadn't been willing to hang out with either him or Yugi after school since their friendship had been created and it was the only explanation that Jonouchi could come up with for Anzu's abandonment of Yugi.

"'Escort Services', what's that?" Yugi asked her taller friend, complete oblivious to what he could possibly be suggesting. Despite the fact that her Grandpa had possibly the biggest porn collection in all of Domino City Yugi was rather innocent when it came to sex, she knew the basics of course but that was really as far as her knowledge went on the subject, and Yugi had no need to know any more in her opinion. True if she wanted Yugi could learn more, all she had to do was head up into their attic and she would be meet by a massive pile of magazines and videos that couldn't fit inside of her Grandpa's wardrobe, but Yugi had no need to do so nor did she want to willingly touch any of her Grandpa's collection outside of cleaning the house. Yugi knew the basics and that was good enough for her, after all the chances of her actually having sex in the next few years were very slim, what need had she to improve her knowledge of a subject she wouldn't be taking for several years.

"You know… Going on dates with rich old men." Jonouchi whispered as the pair were about to walk out of the school gate, being careful so that no one else but Yugi could hear his words, slightly frightful of the reaction he would get if any of the teachers or hall monitors were hiding just outside behind the school wall listening in. It had been a big surprise to Jonouchi that Yugi had no knowledge of what 'Escort Services' were, especially when he took into account how many perverted things that both he and her Grandpa had said in her presence, could she really have blocked out all the filthy things they had talked about or was she just joking around. "Some girls from the other classes do it for spending money."

"JONOUCHI!" Yugi shouted at her friend, completely furious that he would consider even for a moment that Anzu would do something like that, it was insulting. Anzu was Yugi's best friend, her sister in everything but blood. If you searched the entire world you would never find someone kinder, more caring or hardworking than Anzu, she was one of a kind; in this world of greed and darkness Anzu was a pillar of light that Yugi clung to. If it turned out that Anzu was a part of those 'Escort Services' that would be fine, it was her decision to make and Yugi wouldn't hold that against her for a second, Anzu was her own woman she could make decisions for herself. However, Yugi would greatly judge Jonouchi for believing that Anzu would date strangers for money just because their friend hadn't hung out with them after school. "Anzu isn't that kind of girl."

"Whoa, what's your problem?" Jonouchi asked as he stared at Yugi, a little shocked as to how load she had been when she had called out his name, Yugi hardly ever shouted when in his presence let alone at him so he quickly forgot how loud she was able to shout until his ears were already ringing. Jonouchi had never expected Yugi to shout at him, believing that she would simply scoff at his comment not roar as loud as a lion to tell him off, it was almost as if she was a different person with courage and bravery pumping through her veins. However, before Jonouchi could say anything else about her actions he noticed a faint pink blush creeping onto Yugi's cheeks. For a moment Jonouchi thought that the blush had come about because she was embarrassed about screaming at him but as he continued to stare at her he realised that her face looked exactly the same as his own had when the two of them agreed to be friends, when he had come to the conclusion that Yugi was a rather pretty girl. Was it possible that Yugi had the same kind of thoughts about Anzu?

* * *

In the end, the two friends found themselves following the third member of their trio who had been abandoning them, much to the dismay of the youngest member of the group. After Yugi had told Jonouchi off the blonde had noticed Anzu in the distance, turning around a corner that was in the opposite direction of her house, heading instead towards the city centre. Not wanting to lose her Jonouchi had grabbed a hold of Yugi's hand and proceeded to drag her behind him as they chased after Anzu, just managing to catch her before she disappeared from their sights completely. Since then the two friends had been tailing Anzu, making sure to keep their distance as to not alert their friend that they were following her as she continued on towards her destination.

"She's heading towards the red-light district." Jonouchi spoke as the pair watched as Anzu walked over to a pedestrian crossing and quickly ran across the road while there was no traffic in sight. Yugi had no idea where the red-light district was in Domino City, however, she figured that it had to be close by for Jonouchi to have even mentioned it, though she did know for certain that it wasn't down the small street that Anzu appeared to be making her way towards. Yugi had gone down the same street several times in the past, using it as a shortcut to the library and also shopping at a French bakery on the street a few times a year when she saved up enough money, so she knew first hand that none of the shops sold anything remotely dirty.

_'I really don't want to do this.'_  Yugi thought to herself as she trailed carefully behind Jonouchi so that she remained hidden from view, ensuring that if Anzu did manage to catch sight of the pair she would only see Jonouchi, giving Yugi the perfect opportunity to sneak away unnoticed if Jonouchi ended up being shouted at by the brunette. Yugi didn't want to betray Anzu's trust but Jonouchi had given her no choice, holding onto her hand for the longest time to make sure that she kept up with him as they made their way into the city centre. Still, now that they had been following Anzu for some time it began to make Yugi wonder why Anzu had been lying about her after school activities, could it be possible that she was in trouble and hadn't told anyone not even her parents so that no one worried about her. If that was the case than Yugi had to find out, she just wished she didn't have to betray her friend's trust to do so.

Yugi's thoughts were suddenly interrupted however as Anzu turned her head in the direction of her friends just as she was about to enter the side street, causing Jonouchi to grab a hold of Yugi's arm so that he could pull her behind a wall, completely hiding the pair from the brunette's field of vision before she caught sight of them. After the two friends stood there for a moment frozen in fear of being caught Jonouchi decided to take a peek, letting out a sigh of relief seconds later when he noticed that Anzu had walked off down the street, still clueless to the pair's presence. "That was close. But this intrepid reporter will continue to follow 'The Illicit Activities of a High School Girl'."

"Jonouchi, that sounds like one of my Grandpa's movies." Yugi muttered under her breath as she was once again dragged off by Jonouchi as the two friends began following in Anzu's footsteps, crossing the road and darting down the side street that she had disappeared down moments ago. Yugi was getting tired of following Anzu, having spent the last 15 minutes being pulled along by Jonouchi as they drive behind walls and into shops to avoid their friends gaze, hopefully, Anzu would arrive at her destination soon and this would all be over.

"Anzu's entering a building. Is that where her sugar daddy is waiting?" Jonouchi asked the air suddenly as he rushed forward, still pulling Yugi behind him who was having a hard time keeping up with her much longer legged friend. However, the pair didn't end up running for long, soon finding themselves frozen in confusion just outside of the building that Anzu had entered a few moments prior. The two friends couldn't believe what they were seeing, why in the world would Anzu come here of all places after warning them to stay far away, what was going on. However, before either friend could make a comment on the situation the entrance to Burger World opened and answered all of their nagging questions with a single greeting.

"Welcome to Burger world. Let me show you to... Your... Seats..."

* * *

_'Damn those two, why did they follow me. After school jobs are forbidden, if the school finds out I'll be expelled.'_  Anzu thought to herself as she walked away from the booth that she had seated her two friends at, a feeling of dread building inside of her stomach with every step she took towards the kitchen window so that she could order them some food. She had told them both to go straight home so that they would be safe from the escaped prisoner and also to keep them away from her place of work while she was on shift, so why did they have to follow her, why couldn't they have just believed her lie. If the school found out that she was working without having a pass she would be expelled, forced to spend her days working minimum wage jobs because she hadn't finished high school, if that happened she would never get into a school in America; she would never be able to achieve her dream.

"Jonouchi, we shouldn't have followed Anzu, can't you see how mad she is". Yugi told her friend as she unbuttoned her school jacket, trying her best to get comfortable in the booth that Anzu had all but shoved them into when they had walked through the front doors. After Anzu had walked away from the pair without saying a word Jonouchi had insisted that the two of them stay so that they could get the full story out of Anzu, planning to ask her why she had been lying to them for so long and why she needed the job in the first place. Yugi, on the other hand, had wanted to flee the second that she had sat down, they had already upset Anzu enough if they were going to stay then they should just eat their food and leave. Anzu may have been lying to them and they defiantly deserved an answer, but it was Anzu's secret to keep and Yugi would pressure her friend to tell her the truth if she didn't want to.

"No wonder she didn't want us to go to Burger World. Awright I've got her secret." Jonouchi snickered as he too got comfortable in his seat. However unlike Yugi who was sitting all prim and proper, elbows off the table, back straight, feet on the ground, Jonouchi had instead leant up against the window, crossed his arm and propped up his feet so that they were resting on top of the table. However, Jonouchi's feet didn't stay up on the table for very long, Yugi quickly shoving them off while sending Jonouchi a disapproving look for his antics.

_'Still, Anzu looked cute in her uniform.'_  Yugi thought to herself as her gaze drifted over to where Anzu was standing, admiring how pretty her friend looked in her short navy skirt and white blouse. Yugi was odd, she had known that ever since she had been a child, finding herself much smarter than her peers and preferring to spend her breaks on her own either studying or solving puzzles rather than going out to play and make friends. However, it wasn't until middle school when her feelings of admiration and love that she felt for Anzu began to grow that she realised just how  _odd_  she really was compared to everyone else in her class, finding herself attracted to both her male and female peers, though her feelings mainly focused on Anzu and sometimes Seto, though she would never tell either of her friends that she had ever had such feelings about them; too embarrassed about what they would say or think if she revelled to them that she liked them in such a way.

"Please enjoy our burgers with plenty of our famous ketchup." Anzu's voice suddenly rang out, interrupting Yugi's thoughts and bringing her back into reality just in time to see a silver tray slam onto the table, the two burgers and milkshakes that had been resting on top nearly toppling over from the action. For a moment no one dared move as Anzu began squeezing out a mountain of ketchup onto the burger buns until the words 'Tell and you die' were written on top, causing Yugi to immediately draw into herself after she read the message while Jonouchi simply looked annoyed at Anzu for ruining two good-looking burgers with far too much ketchup for his liking.

"Anzu you don't have to worry we won't tell anyone." Yugi reassured her friend as she turned her head towards Jonouchi who had grabbed one of the burgers and began scrapping off the ketchup from the bun with a napkin. Upon seeing his antics Yugi found herself becoming angry at her friend for his lack of interest in both the conversation and Anzu's feelings. As Jonouchi continued to collect the excess ketchup rather than say anything or even look up from the burger Yugi snapped, kicking him roughly underneath the table for his disinterest, causing the blonde yelp to drop the burger in his hands onto the table. However, before Jonouchi could say anything about Yugi's actions he noticed the anger in her eyes as she gestured for him to say something to Anzu like he should have done before without her telling him to. And so Jonouchi turned his head to Anzu, giving her a small nod in agreement to Yugi's statement before turning his attention back to his burger much to the annoyance of the two girls.

"I just wish you would have told me." Yugi spoke again after a moment, turning her gaze towards Anzu rather than Jonouchi who was quietly muttering about there being too much ketchup on his burger. Yugi understood that they all had secrets after all she had been keeping several from Anzu for years, like how she had been friends with a billionaire since she was 8 or how her parents had really died, but having a secret job was nothing compared to the ones that Yugi kept from Anzu in fear that if she finally told the brunette it would either change or destroy their friendship. If Anzu had confided in her that she now had a job Yugi wouldn't have said anything to anyone, not to Jonouchi, not to her Grandpa and definitely not to the school board; Anzu must have known that so why hadn't she said anything.

"I didn't mean to keep it a secret Yugi, I promise." Anzu replied softly before shoving Jonouchi over back towards the window so that she could sit across from her best friend, reaching her hands over the table as she went to grab a hold of Yugi's, entwining their fingers together as Anzu built up the courage to tell her friend her the truth, knowing that Yugi would understand why she had started a job more than anyone else. After all, Yugi had been working since before she could walk, helping out at the shop for next to nothing every day alongside running their household and keeping up her grades for school, working herself to the bone to ensure that the game shop remained open and continued providing for the family. Yugi knew what it was like working to survive, she would easily see that Anzu was doing the same so that she could support herself while fulfilling her dream. "I'm saving up my money so that I can study dance in New York after I graduate, I have to start now so I can afford it."

"You've decided on New York for definite then?" Yugi asked, excitement and surprise lacing her voice as Anzu nodded her head to reply. Yugi had known about Anzu's desire to study ballet in New York since the two friends had been children, however, the choice had always been up in the air, with Anzu not sure if she wanted to travel so far and leave Yugi on her own. For a few years, Anzu had considered giving up dancing and instead aspire to go to Domino College with Yugi, which had pleased her parents immensely when they found out, having tried to persuade her to work towards a 'real career' for years. But as time went on and Anzu continued to shine on the stage her love for dance only grew, along with the amount of support that Yugi supplied her with, buying a ticket for every production Anzu was in so that she could cheer her friend on.

It wasn't until the break between middle school and high school that Anzu's decision was finally made up, after her instructor had told her that she had sent a video of Anzu dancing to one of the most famous ballet schools in New York, who had liked what they had seen and had promised her a place after she had graduated as long as her skills remained the same. Anzu had been so excited when she found out, screaming the dance hall down in happiness before hugging her teacher tight and ringing up her parents to tell them the good news. However, they hadn't been happy with her call, not just because she was still planning on dancing but also because she had interrupted a big business meeting they were attending. In the end after nearly 4 hours of arguing the three of them came to an agreement, her parents would continue paying for her dance lessons, but she would have to pay for her ticket to New York as well as her housing, refusing to help her in any way if she did plan to go study abroad. And so Anzu was left working at Burger World without the school's permission, busting tables and cleaning up messes so that she could save up for her dream of dancing on a stage.

"Don't worry Anzu, we won't tell anyone. I'll eat 10,000 of these burgers if I tell." Jonouchi suddenly spoke, causing the two girls to face him rather than stare at each other, their attention now solely on Jonouchi. After muttering a small 'Thank you' to her friends for promising to keep her secret Anzu stood up from her seat, having to return to work before her boss noticed she was missing and reprimanded her for slacking. Before Anzu was out of earshot, however, Jonouchi spoke again, causing Anzu to laugh and roll her eyes at his words. "But tell me, does this restaurant really make you pay for burgers drowned in ketchup? This stuff is nasty."

"Don't worry, those are on me." Anzu spoke as she turned on her heels and got back to work, leaving her two friends to dig into their free burgers.

* * *

"Wow, New York City. I can't believe that Anzu's on her way to achieving her dreams." Yugi spoke out loud to herself before taking another bite of her burger, not minding the taste of the excessive amount of ketchup, unlike Jonouchi who had only managed to eat half before the taste had become too much for him to handle. Yugi had eaten may terrible burgers in her hunt to find the best and cheapest burger in all of Domino City and Burger World was nothing compared to some of them in fact if it wasn't for the ketchup Yugi figured that Burger World would end up in her top 10 list, she'd have to try another burger to make sure though. The awards for the worst burger that Yugi had ever had actually belonged to one that her Grandpa had cooked a few years prior when he still insisted on cooking every once in a while, resulting in the pair suffering food poisoning and being the driving force behind Yugi's decision to be the only one in the house to cook.

"Yer, I thought that she was just some show-off, but she's really not that bad." Jonouchi replied as he tapped the side of his cheek, indicating to Yugi that she had a smudge of ketchup on her face, who in reply simply licked her thumb and rubbed the spot that Jonouchi had signalled to her until she no longer had a mark; Jonouchi even gave her a thumbs up when she was done to silently tell her that she had gotten it all off.

Since meeting Anzu on the first day of high school almost a month ago Jonouchi's opinion of her had grown from seeing her as an uptight and bossy teen to an uptight and bossy teen who also happened to be Yugi's oldest friend. Jonouchi didn't understand in the beginning how Yugi put up with her, finding Anzu's typical self to be annoying as she told off boys for looking up skirts and giggled with groups of girls about their weekends. It wasn't until he had seen how Yugi and Anzu interacted on their own that Jonouchi began to realise how well in tune the two friends were with one another. It happened a few days after his friendship with Yugi had been born, his eyes focused on the small teen as he talked to Honda when he noticed Anzu walk into the classroom and make her way over to the tri coloured haired girl who was busy reading a textbook.

The second Yugi saw Anzu Jonouchi saw a side to Yugi that he had never seen before, noticing the most radiant smile and a courage in Yugi's eyes that he had thought impossible for her to possess. As the two talked until the bell rang Jonouchi watched closely, taking note of the confidence that Yugi had when talking to Anzu, not stuttering her words or looking away in embarrassment every time she talked. It became clear to Jonouchi just how different Yugi was when around Anzu compared to how she was with him and everyone else in the class, perhaps this was the real Yugi all along who had been hidden underneath layers of anxiety; whatever the case Jonouchi hoped that one day he and Yugi would share a similar bond and that she would cast him one of her beautiful smiles.

"IF ANYONE MAKES A SOUND AND THIS GIRL DIES!" A loud voice suddenly rang out, causing everyone in the restaurant to turn their heads towards the entrance where the voice had originated from, including Jonouchi and Yugi. Upon turning their heads to face the doors the two friends gasped when they saw that the source of the voice was none other than the escaped prisoner that had been on the news, who also happened to have his arm around Anzu's neck allowing him to cover her mouth to stop her from screaming while his other hand was used to point a gun directly at her head; a warning to everyone to follow his instructions. With the way Anzu was positioned she was now forced to play the role of both hostage and human shield as the prisoner began shoving her forward until he was in clear view of all the patrons, allowing him to see everyone to ensure that no one rung the police and spoiled his visit.

"ANZU!" Yugi screamed as she began to get up from her seat, not caring at all about the possible repercussions for her actions, all Yugi cared about at that moment was Anzu. However, before Yugi was able to fully stand up and draw attention to herself Jonouchi grabbed a hold of the back of her shirt, reaching across the table dividing them and pulling at her until she roughly landed back down on the seat below. Upon landing Yugi turned her head sharply towards Jonouchi, wanting to scold him for stopping her spontaneous attempt at saving Anzu. However, the second Yugi saw him she froze, Yugi had believed that Jonouchi would be angry at her for her stupidity but his eyes told a completely different story, the fear and worry that he felt for her and Anzu's safety clear as day in his hazel orbs. Upon seeing the terror in his eyes Yugi shrunk down in her seat until she was no longer visible to anyone else in the restaurant including the escaped prisoner who was looking for the source of the shout after he had demanded silence.

"SHUT UP! LAST WARNING." The prisoner shouted before cocking his gun and pressing the barrel harder against Anzu's head, intending to shoot the brunette if anyone else made another noise. He had been walking through the woods surrounding Domino City all day so that the police wouldn't catch him, however, after being on his feet for hours he had become parched, craving alcohol and a cigarette; having left his stash behind in his cell so it wouldn't weigh him down. For a moment he thought that he would be stuck drinking water from a river when he noticed the drive-through at the edge of the woods, his horoscope had been right; luck was certainly on his side today. "I'm not staying here long, as soon as I fill my belly I'm gone. But until then you stay with me."

"Not a peep or you die. Now blindfold yourself." The escaped prisoner warned Anzu as he roughly untied the white ribbon that had been on top of her head, shoving the ribbon into Anzu's hand when he was done and watching her attentively until she did as he instructed. As Anzu placed the ribbon in front of her eyes she found herself shaking in fear, finding it hard to tie the ribbon properly from how much her hands were trembling. Eventually, however, Anzu managed to secure the ribbon around her head, letting out a small gasp as she was once again shoved forward while the prisoner began to speak once more. "I heard that when humans can't see they're so terrified that they can't make a sound, they do the same to prisoner right before they execute them; and I should know I'm on death row after all."

"Anzu." Yugi whimpered quietly as she peaked out from the top of the booth, watching as the escaped prisoner shoved her friend forward, his hand tight around Anzu's neck as he made his way. As Yugi watched she suddenly heard a shuffling sound behind her however she never turned her gaze away from Anzu's frightened body. A moment later out of the corner of her eye Yugi noticed a familiar shade of blonde enter her view, her gaze briefly leaving Anzu for a moment to stare at Jonouchi who was now kneeling beside her; having crawled underneath the table seconds before so that he could be by her side. As the pair watched on Jonouchi laced his hand with Yugi's, slowly pulling her towards him until her head rested on his shoulder and began quietly reciting to her the promise that he had made earlier that afternoon.

"I promise you Yugi, I won't let anything happen to you. We'll get out of this alive, all three of us."


	7. Yami, punishment by flames

_'I've had a dream since I was really little... I won't say broadway but I'd like to dance on a small stage at least... But is everything going to end here... Someone help me.'_  Anzu thought to herself as she fiddled with her skirt, trying her best to distract herself from the situation she was in. After the prisoner had shoved her into a booth he had ordered the entire restaurant out of there seats and to get in a corner on the floor. She couldn't imagine how scared her friends must have been to have a gun shoved in their faces as they walked across and sat down, at least Jonouchi was with Yugi and she hadn't been here alone; he would keep Yugi safe she was certain.

"Now someone's gotta take my order." The prisoner spoke as he slumped down next to Anzu, waving his gun over the group of hostages until he spotted the perfect candidate that he was certain wouldn't try anything heroic. "You the wussy little girl."

"Yugi." Jonouchi hissed as Yugi began to stand up with shaky legs. He grabbed one of her legs just before she could make a step however, causing her to turn around and give him a reassuring smile and mouth the worlds 'I'll be fine'. Nodding his head Jonouchi let go as he watched his friend leave, clearly frightened out of her mind as she continued to walk closer to the escaped prisoner; and the gun he was holding.

"Everyone else get down on the ground and close your eyes; and if any of you move an inch both these girls are dead." The prisoner warned as he pointed the gun directly at Yugi's head, causing her to stop dead in her tracks in fear as she looked down the barrel of the gun at her possible fate.

_'That lowlife, taking Anzu hostages and choosing Yugi.'_  Jonouchi thought as he waited as long as he could before turning his head to the ground, wanting to assure that Yugi was safe for as long as he could. He waited until the last head went down before he slowly began to get in the demanded position, his eyes on Yugi the entire time.

* * *

_'Wait a sec… This guy said 'Wussy little girl'. Could he mean Yugi.'_  Anzu thought to herself as she heard footsteps approach the table. The prisoner had demanded from who he had chosen to fetch him alcohol and cigarettes while he sat next to her turning the barrel of his gun while they waited. But as the steps got closer Anzu knew for certain that the one he had addressed was Yugi, she had been the only server today and Yugi was the only one in the restaurant who could match that description.

"Yugi…Its you isn't it!" Anzu began to speck as she slowly got up from the booth, not caring about the consequences that she would face for speaking, only caring about the safety of her friend. " Stay away Yugi it's too dangerous." Anzu all but begged as Yugi stopped where she stood, unsure of what to do.

"Shut your damn mouth!" The prisoner shouted as he lifted his hand up and slapped Anzu across her check, causing her to fall back against her chair in pain.

"Anzu!" Yugi screamed as she dropped the tray she was carrying, its contents landing on the floor next to her but not breaking. As the fear and anger swelled inside her Yugi began to feel drowsy and found herself supporting her body against the table she was next to. However all the strength in her body had left her and she found her self falling to the ground, her face inches from the silver tray she had dropped. As her eyes began to grow heavy she stared at the reflection in the tray, however her face was not there; instead there was the face of a man who she had never seen before. However instead of feeling fear instead she felt something else in her chest; trust. For some reason it felt as if she had known this man all her life and that he could help her and her friends at this moment. As her body stilled and her eyes finally close Yugi felt as if she was suddenly brought into a tight embrace as she heard the mysterious voice once again before she fell into slumber.

_"I'll protect you"._

* * *

_'How dare he put his hands on Anzu'._  Yami thought, his breathing heavy as he slowly lifted himself up; ignoring the immense pain he was in while moving his body to kneel down. The amount of magic that he had to use to be able to switch Yugi's body with his own had taken more out of him that he had first anticipated. Instead of taking over her body like he normally would in a situation like this Yami had had to change her body to his completely to not risk her friends seeing her go head to head against the prisoner. If Jonouchi or Anzu recognised Yugi while he was dealing punishment than who knows what they would think, Yugi could lose most of her friends in a single day or maybe they would sell her out to the police for killing a man; because he sure as hell wasn't letting the prisoner escape alive. Or in the worst case scenario they would tell Yugi what she had done which he could not allow to happen under any circumstances. The only way that he would ever allow Yugi know the truth about him and everything he had done for her was if she figured out for herself that he was there. Yes she had an inkling at the moment that something was wrong with her, due to his lacking ability to have her fall unconscious in an instant and him trying to reassure her that everything would be alright; but it was still just an inkling not a firm suspicion. If she was ever absolutely sure that he was there or even tried to address him than he would come out of hiding and tell her everything in an instant.

As his breathing began to clam down and the pain he was feeling become more tolerable Yami began to formulate his plan for revenge. Just like his game with Sozoji Yami would have to use what was around him and come up with the rules quickly before the situation got any worse than what it already had. What he wouldn't give for a chance to plan a game out first like he had with Ushio's punishment.

Yami franticly began to pat at Yugi's clothes, hoping to find anything within them to use however all he felt was her id card and a small amount of change in her inside jacket pocket. Realising that there was nothing on him Yami began to shuffle backwards in an attempt to find something when the back of his foot came in contact with something. As Yami looked behind him a smile began to form on his face as his plan began to come together in his mind, particularly the punishment that would occur to the prisoner when he lost; a fitting punishment for everything he had done to the three friends.

_'Your luck ran out when you chose Yugi.'_  Yami thought as he grabbed the bottle, the cigarettes and the lighter that Yugi had dropped to the floor in shock after Anzu had been struck. Placing the items on the fallen tray Yami began to straighten himself up, quickly fixing his clothes and running a hand through his hair. When all this was over Yugi would once again be in control and he couldn't have her be reunited to her friends in a mess; after all it was his fault that she had fallen and ruined her clothes in the dirt from the floor in the first place.

After patting himself down one final time Yami finally stood up, his eyes staring directly at the prisoner who didn't even notice him; his eyes looking at Anzu with nothing but anger. Fearing for Anzu's safety Yami began to stride towards the table where they sat at, his steps heavy and long so that he could reach them as soon as possible; not wanting to risk Anzu's life.

"Heh...I've brought what you ordered." Yami said as he flopped down next to the prisoner. His legs were crossed and a confident smile adorned his face, trying to get a reaction out of the prisoner without setting him off to much; one wrong move and not only would he lose his life but so would Yugi and Anzu if he didn't play this game carefully.

"Who said you could sit down." The prisoner shouted at him, his grip on the gun tightening as he looked at the tri coloured teen. However much to his surprise a male teen had joined him at the booth instead of the wimpy girl he had chosen before. "And where did that girl go." He continued, his voice just as load as before as he began scanning the restaurant, looking underneath the tables and over to the group of hostages to see if she had rejoined them, however the girl was no where to be seen almost as if she had vanished in to thin air.

"I just thought that I could keep you company and help you pass the time." Yami replied as he slid further into the booth. His eyes rested on the prisoner for a moment before turning his gaze to Anzu. She no longer was shaking as much she had been before he had intervened however her cheek was still red from the slap that she had suffered. Upon seeing the red on Anzu's cheek the anger Yami was feeling began to rise and he knew in an instant that he would take far greater pleasure serving punishment to the prisoner than any others that had gone after Yugi before. "Why don't we play a game, if you have the guts." Yami went on, trying to antagonise the prisoner enough to ensure that he would actually play and not just shoot Yami instead.

_'This voice...Who? I don't know who this guy is but he's crazy to talk like that to someone holding a gun'._  Anzu thought as she fiddled with the hem of her skirt, unable to do much else as she waited patiently for the prisoner to leave and the burning sensation in her check to cool down.  _'But if he's here where did Yugi go'._  She suddenly realised, a million thoughts rushing through her head at once. Could this man have been hiding and gone unnoticed by the prisoner when he had rounded up all the other customers, if so did he save Yugi and have her hide safely away from harm; Anzu certainly hoped that was the case.

"A game huh...This could be fun." The prisoner replied as he opened the packet of cigarettes and took one out with his teeth, not wanting to take his finger from the guns trigger for a moment in case the kid tried anything. He had seen the the same eyes that the kid was giving him countless of times, and just like all the others who had been brave and tried to stop his crime before the kid would suffer the same fate; buried six feet underground with a bullet in the centre of his head.

"However the one to lose this game will die." Yami explained as he stared the prisoner straight in the eye, trying to show that he was the dominate one in the situation even though unlike the prisoner he was unarmed; but certainly no less dangerous.

"Interesting...Lets hear the rules."

* * *

_'Damn this guys big butt is in the way. I can't see anything. It's gotten so quiet to.'_  Jonouchi thought to himself as he moved his head around the butt in front of him, trying to get a glimpse of Yugi and Anzu to see if they were safe. However the only thing in his vision was an ass that he silently prayed wouldn't fart in his face. If he was able Jonouchi would have rose of his knees and looked over the body in front of him; but fearing for not only his safety but that of his friends he didn't dare. He wasn't going to piss off the prisoner any more than he already was. When he had heard the sound of the slap Jonouchi had frozen in fear his mind drifting back to that of his father and the times that he too had been beaten, but his thoughts soon returned to his friends and his life at home once again returned to the back of his mind. However he felt a wave of relief when the prisoner had shouted about where Yugi had gone. Whoever was with him had saved her from facing him and he couldn't have been more grateful. He had promised Yugi that he would protect her and once again he was unable to help just like with the director. But unlike that time Yugi had managed to avoid the danger, he just hoped now that they would all get out of this horrible situation alive.

_'Hang in there Yugi.'_

* * *

"The game has only one rule." Yami began as he extended both his hands in front of him and showed the prisoner his fingers, wiggling them to enforce the message that they were the most important part of the game. "As long as we sit at this table facing each other we may only use one of our fingers, once the game starts that finger can not change either." He continued as he returned his left hand to his side and rested his face on his right, a smug smile on his face as he began to think of the outcome of the game. "We are able to chose which finger we wish though. So which finger do you choose."

"Heh... I choose my index finger of course, it's all I need to pull the trigger and blow you away!" The prisoner replied before bringing the bottle of vodka to his lips to tear the top off with his teeth.

"Ok, then I choose my thumb." Yami spoke as he lifted his head from his arm and showed the prisoner the thumb he had selected.

_'This kid is such an idiot, what can he do with one thumb. I'll send him to hell in an instant.'_  The prisoner thought as he began to pour the vodka into one of the shot glasses the kid had placed on the table, his parched throat aching more as he began to think about how satisfying it would be to take the shot after ending the obnoxious kids life.

"After the signal we are free to do anything we wish, you can even pull the trigger is you like."

* * *

_'I can't move, if I drop the lighter I'll set the vodka on fire!'_  The prisoner thought to himself as his gaze remained firmly on the vodka over pouring the shot glass and all over him, soaking his clothes and forming a small pool on the floor. The game that he had believed to be an easy win had quickly turned into a living nightmare.

When the game had began the prisoner had immediately aimed his gun at Yami's head, planning on ending his life before continuing on as he had originally planned to; enjoying his drink and cigarettes than leaving the restaurant to begin his life on the run. However just as the prisoner had began to put pressure on the trigger the teen had produced a lighter out of his jacket pocket, reminding the prisoner that the cigarette between his lips had yet to be lit. Figuring that the kid could do no damage with the lighter the prisoner had decided to let the boy light his cigarette for him, declaring it his last act before being sent to hell. After the cigarette had been light however the dynamics of the situation completely changed, in an instant all the power went to Yami. Yami had loosened his grip on the lighter as soon as the cigarette had been lit, allowing it to slip through his fingers and land on the prisoner hand; which was still pouring vodka. Now Yami had the control over the prisoners life instead of the other way round, after all there was no way that the prisoner could kill Yami without killing himself in the process

"Just try firing your gun, the recoil will drop the lighter for sure." Yami spoke as he exited the booth, a devilish smile appearing on his face as he slowly walked around the booth; wanting to engrave the image in his mind. When he finally arrived at the other side of the table he gentle reached over to grasp Anzu's arm, tugging on her to show her that it was now safe for her to move from her seat. "Let's go Anzu." He whispered in her as he lead her back towards the group of hostages, wanting to get her as far away from the prisoner before he went up in flames. When they were far away enough for his liking Yami let go of Anzu and quickly dived under the nearest table so that he could return control over to Yugi.

"AAAGGGGHHH!" Yami heard the prisoner's screams of pain just as his soul began to return to the Millenium Puzzle, a sound that he would not forget any time soon.

* * *

"And you say that after you friend was hit you fainted?" The police officer asked Yugi as she clutched the blanket she had been given tighter to shield herself from the cold. It turned out that a passerby had seen what was happening inside the restaurant and had called the police, who had arrived just minutes after the prisoner had set himself on fire.

"Yes sir. I was scared the entire time getting everything he asked for but when he hit Anzu something within me changed and I couldn't keep going." Yugi replied calmly as her eyes drifted over to Anzu and Jonouchi. Jonouchi was still waiting in line with the other hostages to make his statement, his annoyance clearly plastered on his face. Meanwhile Anzu was sat further away with another officer, however unlike Jonouchi her face was covered in tears; the events of what had happened finally overwhelming her.

"Thanks kid." The officer told her as his gaze followed towards the teens and knew in an instant that they knew each other. "Looks like your friends are almost finished with their statements too, few more minutes and you kids can get out of here." He continued before nodding his head at her and began to walk away to help with the officer talking to the other hostages.

"Thank you." Yugi whispered, unsure really of who she was thanking; the officer or the one who had saved her. However the calm that Yugi had been feeling previously began to fade as her eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar black car across the road from where she was sitting and a small man that she recognised instantly. Quickly Yugi began checking to make sure that her friends weren't looking at her and wouldn't notice her missing for a few moments before flinging the blanket from her shoulders as she got up and rushing over to the car; anger boiling in her stomach.

"What are you doing here Hobson." Yugi demanded as she reached the car. Standing in front of her was Seto's head butler Hobson, a small man who she had only meet a few times previous during the few times she had ever been to Seto's mansion. Hobson gave her a small nod to show his respect before moving out of the way of the limos door, gesturing for her to get inside.

"Master Kaiba heard of what happen Miss Muto and ordered me to take you home." Hobson politely told her as Yugi rolled her eyes at how he had addressed her. While Yugi hated the title and told any of the staff that she met to simply call her by name no one ever listened to her; not wanting to disobey the masters orders to treat her as if she was apart of the Kaiba household.

"How did he even- never mind I'm here with friends Hobson I can't just leave on my own." Yugi replied her voice shifting from confusion to her normal tone in an instant. She shouldn't have been surprised in all honesty Seto always seemed to know where she was, almost like he had a tracker on her; though he promised her that he hadn't every time she asked.

"The limo is quite spacious Miss you can all-" Hobson had began before being interrupted by Yugi.

"My friendship with Seto isn't something I want to share with them at the moment Hobson." Yugi told him through her teeth, her anger getting the better of her. She just couldn't believe that he had sent someone else to get her. Yes he was a busy man and she understood that completely but he had come running from business deals and meeting before for petty things so why couldn't he come now. "Tell him I'll talk to him tonight and explain everything to him then."

"Or you could explain it all now." Seto spoke as he opened the back door to the limousine, hid arms crossed tightly on his chest and a frown embedded on his face.

"How did you even know that I was here." Yugi told him angrily as she gestured for him to move over so she could get in; which he did in an instant allowing for her to sit next to him. After closing the door behind her Yugi and Seto simultaneously turned their heads towards the driver, silently telling him to leave the two alone in the car to allow them privacy.

"That doesn't matter at the moment, what matters is your well-being and that you get home safely." Seto stated after the driver had left, wanting to allow Yugi to talk about what had just happened to her in private. He trusted his employees to keep everything everything said around them confidential but when it came to Yugi he didn't want to risk anything, they had managed to keep their friendship a secret from the media for years but one wrong word and it would all come crashing down.

"I'm fine Seto nothing happened." Yugi muttered as she looked away from him, focusing her gaze outside of the window at her friends, watching to make sure that they were still busy instead of looking for her. Anzu was still a mess, chocking back sobs as she continued to recant the events that had occurred not half an hour ago; whilst Jonouchi had moved up in the line of hostages appearing to be next in the interview process. Her gaze was interrupted however as she felt a hand grab her chin and gently turn her head to stare at the billionaire instead.

"An escaped prisoner took the entire restaurant you were in hostage and you walk out alright. I don't believe that for a second Yugi." Seto spoke angrily as his eyes grew cold and his fingers became less gentle on her chin. Yugi had only ever seen this side of Seto once before long ago in their youth on  _that night._ Turning her head away from his gaze Yugi began to recall what had happened that afternoon.

"It all happened so fast. Me and Jonouchi were just talking and the next thing I knew Anzu had a gun to her head." Yugi began in a soft voice so gentle that she was unsure if Seto could even hear a word she was saying. "He rounded us all up and ordered us to sit at the other side of the restaurant, Jonouchi had to almost drag me over there my legs felt so heavy from the fear I felt; not just for me but for all of us." At that point in the conversation Yugi began to grip tightly onto the bottom of her jacket, her knuckles turning white as she attempted to stop herself from crying. "As soon as I sat down though he started ordering us again, wanting someone to fetch him booze and cigarettes; and I was the lucky candidate. I got what what he wanted but Anzu realised that he had called on me and started screaming for me to stay away... He hit her because she was trying to keep me safe." Yugi chocked out as the tears began to pour down her cheeks, no longer able to fight them back and remain strong.

Suddenly Yugi found herself pressed up against Seto's chest, his head resting on top of hers and one of his long arms wrapped defensively around her shoulder. They didn't speak, instead Seto allowed for Yugi to soak his shirt with her tears; wanting her to express her pain instead of bottling it up like she so often did. They stayed like that for several moments, Yugi crying into the silk blue shirt and Seto tracing pattens on her arm. However both teens knew that they could not stay like this for much longer so Yugi lifted her head from his chest, making a noise a mix of laughter and sobbing when she saw the massive tear stains that she had left on his clothing. However Seto didn't seem to care at all about what she had done, instead he reached over to wipe the rest of her tears.

After drying her face and running a hand through her hair to make sure she looked presentable Yugi reached over and opened the car door. Before she left however she turned one final time towards her best friend, giving him a small smile to reassure him that she was alright.

"I'll call you tonight, promise."


	8. Yugi, Anzu and Jonouchi, luck and 'fate'

3rd Person POV

"Damn my luck has been so bad lately." Jonouchi spoke as he poked his left check, irritating the dark bruise hidden away under a plaster; which he had had to find in a mad dash to find that morning. When he had gone to bed the night before the bruise didn't look as bad, however over night the skin had turned from a dark blue to a deep purple.

"What happened to your face Jonouchi?" Yugi asked as she reached up and slapped his hand in an attempt to get him to leave it alone, which she had to do several times before he finally stopped prodding and instead shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I got into a fight with some punks yesterday, didn't manage to duck in time and so-" Jonouchi explained as he tilted his head to the right gesturing towards the shiner. The truth however was a completely different story, but not one he wished to share with Yugi. Like most days his father had ended up drinking away his pay check with alcohol and had ended up passed out on the kitchen table surrounded in a mix of empty and unopened bottles . When Jonouchi had gotten home from a shift at the store he had tried to sneak in and avoid his fathers sleeping form. However he had ended up falling over one of the discarded bear cans. Upon hearing the ruckus he was making his father had thrown a bottle of what ever he had been bingeing on before passing out in Jonouchi's direction, hitting him on the face. The only good luck he had all week ended up being the fact that the bottle had smashed when it had hit him, a bruise with his reputation was easy enough to mask as a mark from a fight; injures from a broken bottle however were a lot harder as he had learned when he was younger. "But I clobbered the other four guys."

"Four guys...Wow." Yugi muttered, her mind full of images of the imaginary fight that had occurred. Imagining Jonouchi going against a group of tough thugs, blocking their punches and then returning ones of his own; this time with much more strength however. Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted as a pile of equipment fell down from the sky in front of them, missing them by mere inches.. Looking up the pair saw a worker fixing a broken street lamp, who made a quick apology about his clumsiness.

"More bad luck." The two spoke in unison as they walked around the pile of broken equipment and continued on their way to school, both their minds full with what would have happened if they had been just step ahead of what they were before.

* * *

"Hey have you guys heard about Kokurano in class A." Anzu asked her two friends as she took out her lunch. The three were all alone in their classroom after the rest of their classmates had left to eat their lunch and hang out in the warm sun. Anzu had originally planned on persuading the two to come and enjoy their own lunch outside under one of the trees, however Jonouchi was very adamant about staying inside; not wanting to risk a branch falling on him or having a bird poo all over his hair. Yugi had told him that if his luck was really so bad than staying inside wouldn't help, he'd most likely end up having one of the lights come crashing down on his head instead. Jonouchi had just shrugged what she had said however claiming that her good luck would cancel out his bad, though he paled and refused to speak at all after she remained him about what had happened on their way to school; telling him that her good luck hadn't saved them then.

"I head that he's become really popular lately though I have no idea why." Yugi replied as she opened her own lunch that she had packed from the leftovers from the night before; a small container of four rice balls, a flask of miso soup that was still warm from when she had re heated it that morning, a bottle of water and another container this time with two dumplings. When Jonouchi didn't take out anything for lunch Yugi began to split her lunch so that he would have something to eat, placing two of the rice balls in the container with the dumplings before lifting one of them out for herself and then reached over to Jonouchi's desk. Jonouchi muttered a small 'thank you' before taking a bite of the dumpling, moaning with joy over how good it tasted.

"He's a psychic Yugi that's why." Anzu told them as she looked down at her own lunch, until her gaze was interrupted by two load gasps; causing her to looked up at the shocked faces of her friends. Yugi's eyes were open wide while her mouth was slightly ajar, the dumpling in her hand seemingly forgotten at hearing the truth about Kokurano; originally believing that he had simply changed his appearance. Jonouchi on the other hand had been eating one of the rice balls when she had spoken and now could see the mushy content in his gaping mouth.

"A PSYCHIC!" Yugi and Jonouchi both spoke at the same time, their voices loader than usual but not as load that it would be considered shouting. However before anyone else could speak another word Jonouchi began to choke on the rice in his mouth. Frantically Yugi began to smack his back while Anzu rushed to get out of her chair to give him the heimlich maneuver. She was too late however as Yugi had managed to help Jonouchi bring the food back up, who proceed to swallow it back down; this time not chocking his food. As Anzu went back to her seat and Yugi began to calm down from her panic the two heard Jonouchi mutter about his 'bad luck' before taking a swig of the water that Yugi had brought.

"Yer, they say he can see the future. His predictions are apparently really accurate too." Anzu gentle continued, her voice soft as she once again sat down at her desk; her gaze never leaving Jonouchi as she watched her words to ensure that he wouldn't end up repeating his previous actions. "You've seen all the girls disappearing during breaks right? They go to class A to get their fortunes told." Anzu continued as she finally took a bite of her own lunch.

"Alright!" Jonouchi screamed, this time making sure that there was nothing in his mouth before making the outburst. Both female looked at him with confused looks plastered on their faces, unsure on what would make him so excited."I'm gonna get my fortune told. Let's go guys." Jonouchi shouted with glee as he practically jumped up from his own chair and began to run to the door, stopping at the door to gesture for the other two to join him.

"Hold on Jonouchi." Yugi called after him as she closed the lids on the containers so that the food wouldn't dry out while they were away from their desks. As she got up from her own desk Anzu joined her in standing and the two began to walk towards Jonouchi, who was practically bouncing at the thought of finding out when his luck would change.


	9. Yugi, Anzu and Jonouchi, false promises

3rd Person POV

"There's so many people here." Yugi muttered as she stared at all the other girls crowding up classroom A, unsure of which direction Kokurano was actual sat at due to her inability to see over most of the girls shoulders. Most of the girls there were her fellow first years however she could see a few second year students in the massive crowd, though they were mostly in the back; as if they didn't want to be seen. She could even spot a small group of boys hiding away in the corner, trying their best to drowned out the sequels and giggling that she was already becoming annoyed with after only a minute of being in the room.

_'Damn, it's not cool for a guy to get his fortune read; and with all these girls watching too. Time to bluff.'_ Jonouchi thought as began to feel out of place in a room full of women. If anyone ever caught wind of him being here on his own accord he would never live it down, especially by Honda. The two were already hardly speaking as it was, whenever they spoke or hung out it always ended with Jonouchi walking away after Honda would complain and insult about his friendship with Yugi. Unlike Jonouchi Honda didn't attempt to get to know Yugi after she had saved them, continuing to believe that she was just some weak brat. Every time Honda went to far Jonouchi would just leave him on his own, knowing that if he stayed much longer that the day would most likely end in him punching Honda in the face.

"Geeze I can't believe that you two dragged me here." Jonouchi spoke loudly, making sure that everyone heard him so that they thought that he was here because of Yugi and Anzu, not taking his chances with just being seen with them.

"What! Who dragged who here." Anzu shockingly responded before she hit him with the side of her hand. It wasn't her or Yugi's idea at all, sure she had brought up the subject of Kokurano's psychic powers but she never had plans to visit him. She was fearful of what would happened if he saw her hurt or in danger once again, she wasn't sure if she could handle knowing that she would eventually be in a similar situation as with the prisoner once more; afraid that she would spend the rest of her life in constant fear of what was around the corner.

"Quiet over there." One of Kokurano's attendants shouted in their direction, the words clear amidst the sea of giggles and chatter.

"Sorry." Yugi replied, unsure if her apology had been heard from those upfront. Behind her she heard her friends begin to argue, a mix of 'moron' and 'stupid' being whispered between the two as to not get kicked out for making too much noise. Yugi was to afraid to look behind herself however after hearing the distinct sound of a punch, knowing that she would end up shouting at Anzu for punching Jonouchi if she turned around to face them.

"Next." Kokurano's voice rung out, causing the entire room to become dead silent for a moment. However this silence did not last long as the girls suddenly began to shout once again, each screaming about how they should be next and that they had been waiting longer than anyone else.

"You should get your fortune told next Yugi." Jonouchi spoke as he grabbed onto Yugi's shoulders and began to shove her forward, the crowd of girls parting like the red sea in front of her to avoid being hit. Yugi began to protect however, refusing to move her legs and shoving back against Jonouchi with all her weight to get him to stop.

The pair had almost reached Kokurano when all of a sudden the ground began to shake under them. Upon feeling the tremors Jonouchi began to act quickly, turning around Yugi until she was nestled into chest before pulling her to the ground so that he could cover her body the best he could; not wanting to risk her getting hit by one of the ceiling lights in case one came undone and crashed on top of them.

"An earthquake." Anzu spoke when the tremors finally stopped, slowly getting up from underneath the desk that she had ducked under. As she looked around Anzu finally found her friends beginning to untangle themselves from their place on the floor, a smile creeping on to her face as she saw that both were alright and hadn't been injured.

"That was a big one." Jonouchi muttered as he finally stood up straight, his gaze on Yugi the entire time wanting to make sure that she was alright and that he hadn't been overstepping his boundaries to simply grab her like that. His fears were pointless however as Yugi had a smile on her face, clearly showing him that she hadn't minded his action at all; knowing that he had done so to protect her.

"You there." Kokurano spoke as he pointed a finger to Jonouchi so that the pair wouldn't be confused as to who he was addressing. "You just said 'get your fortune told' didn't you. I'll have you know I am not a fortune teller. To be sure things like Palmistry,Chi readings-."

"Okay." Jonouchi muttered as he rolled his eyes, drowning out the rest of Kokurano's speech that was way to long in his opinion He already believed that the guy could see into the future, he didn't need a lecture on the practice itself. Unlike Jonouchi however Yugi had her full attention on what Kokurano was saying, trying to see if she could catch him out in his lie that her friends seemed completely oblivious to.

"You don't believe me? Then allow me to show you proof." Kokurano continued, seemingly unknowing that Jonouchi hadn't paid any attention to what he had said previous. "I had a vision this morning granted to me by my powers and wrote it down on this piece of paper." Upon finishing his sentence Kokurano had reached inside his cloak and produced a piece of paper, which Jonouchi assumed was the paper that he had mentioned before; "What does it say? Go on read it out load." Kokurano questioned as he pressed the paper into Jonouchi's hand.

"Earthquake today." Jonouchi spoke out load, his eyes widened as he read the paper, astounded by Kokurano's powers. "Wow that really is something." Jonouchi continued as he turned to face Anzu who had joined them up front during Kokurano's speech before. The pair were amazed by Kokurano's abilities. Jonouchi began to believe that Kokurano might be able to see when his run of bad luck would end, also wondering if Kokurano would know of any ways for it to end sooner if he saw that it wouldn't end in a day or two. Anzu on the other hand began to feel less afraid with the idea of letting him look into her future, all she had heard from the other girls in the class was that Kokurano only predicted positive things about other people, so maybe he could only see the good things happening in peoples lives but when it came to the planet he only saw the bad. But what if she was the first exseption to his powers then-

"Such lovely hands." Kokurano spoke as he suddenly grabbed onto Anzu without warning, causing all three friends to turn his direction.

As Kokurano stroked Anzu's hands Yugi took a step closer to him, anger portrayed on her face as she looked at his face; his lewd expression as clear as day. Unlike her friends Yugi was not fooled by his act and knew the instant that he had grabbed Anzu's hand why he had lied about his gifts, this was a way for him to attract women nothing more; and by the look on his face Anzu was defiantly one of the girls he had hoped would come to visit him.

"I see...I see..." Kokurano began to chant as he gripped onto Anzu's hands tightly. "I see a wonderful man appearing in your life. You will fall so deeply in love that you will swoon before him."

_'I wonder if he's talking about the man who saved me.'_ Anzu thought as she let out a sigh of relief, glad that Kokurano hadn't seen anything bad happening any time soon. But the fact that he had mentioned a man made Anzu begin to think of the hostage situation once again. While she tried her best to not think about what had happened or what could have happened there was one thing about the situation that she kept returning to, the voice of the man who had saved her.

"Next. You're are having bad luck." Kokurano said to Jonouchi without looking at him, instead focusing his attention at Anzu; who had walked away from the booth to stand at the edge of the group of his followers.

"Wow you can tell? See that's the problem I've been having lately, just yesterday-" Jonouchi began before being cut off by Kokurano shouting for the next person to go up. "What!" Jonouchi shouted as he shoved his hands and began to walk to stand behind Yugi, his mood darkening due to being ignored.

"You will have a growth spurt soon." Kokurano told Yugi as she looked at him, her face not reaction at all; simply remaining unchanged. Kokurano became confused with her actions, every girl that he had predicted for in the past had cracked a smile or at least let out a sigh of happiness; and yet here was this girl who didn't seem to care about what he had said. He had just told her a prediction that he was sure she would have loved to have heard about her future and yet she showed no interest. "What, didn't you want me to read your fortune."

"I hate to be rude..." Yugi muttered as she looked down at her shoes, not wanting to see the response of Kokurano or his attendance, afraid of what their faces would like like when she finally made her point. "While I'm sure that psychic powers really existed I know that most psychics are just fakes." Yugi continued, her voice small and almost unhearable by the majority of the room.

"You saw Lord Kokurano's powers, he just predicted an earthquake and saw you and you're friends futures." One of Kokurano's attendants shouted at her from his right side, her cruel gaze unseen by Yugi who had yet to lift her head.

"But I've seen tricks like that before on TV." Yugi responded finally looking up, quickly gazing at Kokurano before turning around so that she could address her friends and the group of classmates ."He could have hid multiple note cards under his clothes with different prediction on so that he wouldn't be wrong, bringing out one depending on what situation occurred." Yugi spoke as she reached into her own jacket pocket and took out a notebook to try and show everyone just how easy it would be for him to hide something.

"And as for mine and my friends predictions it's pretty obvious that the things he said will happen." Yugi continued with her speech as she looked into the eyes of her friends, wanting to get her point across so that they would realise the trick that had been played on them. "Anzu you're really pretty so of course you'll find yourself a handsome man walk into your life sooner or later. And Jonouchi, you haven't stopped talking about your bad luck all day so Kokurano probably heard you talking about it when passing our classroom this morning." Yugi paused for a moment as she looked at her friends responses, their faces in disbelief about what Yugi was saying just like everyone else in the room.

"And anyone can tell you that I'm going to have a growth spurt, I'm only 15 my bodies still growing-"

"URRRRRR!" Kokurano shouted loudly, shocking everyone in the room at his sudden outburst; especially Yugi who began to walk slowly away from him. In his chair Kokurano began to shake as he clutched on to his head in pain, his limps moving as if he no longer had any control of them. He quickly recovered from his actions however, his arms and legs instead stiffened as he left out deep breaths as if he had been in deep pain. Lifting his head up from its downward position his eyes immediately rested on Yugi, there cold and cruel gaze sending a shiver down her spine; the words that he spoke didn't ease her feeling either.

"I see it. Countless words will fall from the heavens and bring disaster upon you."


	10. Yugi and Hanasaki, riddles and nerves

3rd Person POV

"You ok Yugi?" A voice rang out causing Yugi to lose her train of thought and her place on the page. It was now afternoon break and she had been left alone in the classroom, her friends deciding to go visit Kokurano once again in an attempt to find out more about their previous predictions. It was very different for Yugi being alone again, after almost a month of spending her breaks with Jonouchi and Anzu. After the first week she had stopped bringing games to entertain herself so when they had left all she could do was make a head start on her revision notes, this did bring a small smile to her face however when she first started as it meant she would now have some time that night to herself.

"Oh hey Hanasaki." Yugi spoke with a wide smile as she looked up at him. After what had happened to them with Sozoji the two had spoke only a few time, but in those few instances she could easily tell that she and Hanaskai were becoming friends. Almost every day it looked as if Hanasaki wanted to talk to her however if Anzu and Jonouchi were around her than he would simply stand in the corner waiting for them to leave her alone, which wasn't very often. Yugi had figured out very quickly that her friends scared him so she always made sure to talk to him on the mornings that they both got to class earlier than anyone else. "I'm fine, just a lost in thought that's all."

"About Kokurano's prediction?" Hanasaki questioned as he pulled up a chair across from Yugi, his eyes full of worry. After what had happened to them both he had become very protective of Yugi, even if he knew that he couldn't do as much as her friends. Unlike her friend Jonouchi he wasn't as physically strong so he couldn't threaten anyone who badmouthed her, which he had seen Jonouchi do before in the changing room on more than one occasion. Instead he used his words to defend her like her other friend Anzu, however he didn't have as much power behind his words when he spoke like she did.

"You heard about that?" Yugi asked him as she began to put away her notes into her folder, knowing that she wouldn't need them any more now that she and Hanasaki could talk. As she reached under the desk to grab her bag Yugi could clearly see a change in Hanasaki's mood. His bright and cheerful smile had turned solemn while his gaze had turned to his shoes in attempt to avoid her gaze.

While Hanasaki looked downwards at the floor Yugi began to put away her equipment, not taking her eyes of him for a second; knowing that if she stared long enough he would eventually break. This lasted for several moments with Yugi simply staring at Hanasaki's head while he looked down at his shoes, occasionally letting his gaze look up at Yugi's; how every time this happened he could feel his composure lessening whenever he saw Yugi's worried eyes.

"I think the whole school has." Hanasaki eventually muttered quietly, no longer able to keep quiet. Everyone was talking about it during the final minutes of lunch, someone having ran down from Classroom A and screaming about Yugi's apparent doom for everyone to hear. Since then it was practically the only thing on anyone's lips, people muttering and whispering about it throughout their afternoon lesson behind Yugi's back. He had even heard boy talking about it when he had gone to the bathroom.

"Maybe Jonouchi's bad luck rubbed off on me." Yugi muttered as she finally put away her folder, having not moved at all when Hanasaki had decided to remain in silence. She knew that the news would have been heard by some people, after all there had been so many people there when Kokurano had spoken but she had never anticipated that everyone in the school would have know. Being the centre of attention was not something she enjoyed, after all most times more that one person was every looking or thinking about her was after she had done something embarrassing, like tripping and her bag spilling out onto the floor.

"Do you believe it? That countless words will fall from the heavens and bring me disaster." Yugi asked Hanasaki as she fiddled with her hands on the desk, unable to hide her nerves about the prediction and how she was suddenly the biggest discussion point in the whole school.

"I don't even know how countless words could fall from the heavens in the first place." Hanasaki replied as he reached over to take Yugi's hands in his own, rubbing gentle just like his mother did for him whenever he felt overwhelmed with everything.

"That bit baffled me too." Yugi confessed as she let out a small giggle to try and cheer up the gloomy mood of the room. However as she saw Hanasaki's face once again turn to a frown she knew that the mood wouldn't disappear so easily as she thought. "What is it Hanasaki?" She asked as she laced her fingers with his.

"I just remembered how Kokurano became popular." Hanasaki confessed as he looked Yugi in the eye, knowing that what he was about to say would not help her situation or feelings. As fear began to settle on Yugi's face Hanasaki began to gently rub his thumb against Yugi's in an attempt to calm her from what he was about to saw. When he saw that noting was going to help her he decided to simply tell her straight and all at once, like ripping off a band aid. "Well apparently he predicted a house fire at one of his class mates in Class A. Three days later his prediction came true and now that student is in hospital."

"Really." Yugi spoke so lightly that if Hanasaki hadn't been paying attention for a reply he likely would have heard her. As she spoke Yugi had untangled her and Hanasaki's hands and instead brought them under her knees to lift her legs up on to her chair in an attempt to make herself as small as possible. She hardly noticed what she was doing to herself, the action become something so common whenever she felt scare that it now happened out of instinct.

"But I wouldn't worry Yugi, after all we can't even make out what his prediction meant." Hanasaki tried to comfort Yugi. He knew that she would react badly to the news but her reaction was nothing like he anticipated, he couldn't blame her however. There had been so many rumours flying around the school about how unfortunate Yugi was, with bullies like Ushio deciding to take advantage of her; hell they shared there own experience with Sozoji after all. She seemed to just attract bad experiences like a magnet and it appeared that it had all began to become to much for her.

"Thank's Hanasaki." Yugi mutter before giving him a weak smile. Before the two could speak any more however the bell rang indicating that break was over and that the rest of their classmates would soon be returning. As Hanasaki returned the chair he had used and Yugi untangled her body she only had one though on her mind.

_'I wonder what countless words could mean though?'_

* * *

_'At least Anzu doesn't have work today, it be nice to hang out and forget about all this prediction stuff.'_ Yugi spoke to herself, not afraid to indulge in her habit now that she was the only person left in the classroom. Everyone else had rushed out including Jonouchi so she had been left alone, though she did have plans to hang out with Anzu after she had gone off to meet someone that had left a letter in her desk. Yugi didn't think much of it however, confessions were something common that Anzu experience though she never accepted any.

As Yugi began to make her way toward the door her eyes drifted towards one of the desks, her gaze having been caught by a dark green book cover. As she pasted Yugi decided to pick it up to inspect the title, having found no indication of it on the cover or the spine. As she opened it however she noticed that the time stamp of the book indicated that the due date was in for today. Deciding that she still had time before Anzu would come back Yugi began to make her way towards the library, choosing to do an act of kindness to ensure that whoever left it wouldn't get a fine.

* * *

"Let's see. It should go around here..." Yugi muttered to herself as she trailed her eyes across the shelf of books, trying to find the position that the book belonged to. Just as she was about to place the book in its correct place she heard a load noise from behind the book case. As soon as she heard a load bang she knew in an instant what was happening, someone had pushed the cases forward so that they would topple over like dominoes.

'Countless words.' Yugi thought to herself before she found herself becoming faint just as the bookcase in front of her was about to topple over and bring down a storm of books on top of her. As she closed her eyes she could see the first book about to fall off but before anything had hit her she lost conciousness.

* * *

"Another moment to figure out what 'countless words' was and we'd be dead." Yami spoke to himself as the dust around him cleared. If it had taken any longer that both he and Yugi would have been crushed. However as he had taken control he had been able to set off a small burst of power, enough so that the bookcase in front of them would return back to its right position. However a few books had managed to fall, one landing on his hand forming a bruise that he knew Yugi would have to hide so that her friends didn't worry.

_'So Kokurano makes all of his predictions come through himself.'_ Yami thought as he began to walk toward the exit of the library. However as he neared the door his thoughts turned dark as he realised a truth that he hadn't though of before, his attention on Yugi's own safety not on others. _'But if that the case then-'_

"Anzu's in danger."


	11. Yami, saving sleeping beauty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the chapter after this in the manga is one of my least favourite chapters in the whole series so I'm going to try and get the whole thing done in a chapter in a flashback kind of thing during the shadow game so it won't be as detailed as some of the other chapters I've done. But in a way thats a good thing it means that afterwards there are only two more manga chapters before Seto appears again and we can have our first duel.

3rd Person POV

"And just like I predicted you've swooned in front of me." Kokurano chuckled to himself as he held onto Anzu's unconscious body, his left hand caressing her breast through her uniform while his other kept the chloroform covered rag over her mouth and nose to make sure she would truly fall asleep. He had been waiting for this moment ever since he had managed to build up a reputation for being a psychic. He had long grown tired of his assistance who flung themselves at him on a daily basis, seeing them as nothing but the first notches on his headboard before he moved on to more beautiful women like the one who lay in his arms. He had admired Anzu from a far for so long, sneaking looks at her whenever she was near him and then fantasising all of the things that he would do to her when he returned home. He knew that she never would have chosen him as her partner but that didn't matter now, she had no chose in the matter thanks to the chloroform. Now he could take his pleasures without having to worry about her rejection or Yugi running to her rescue. "I told you Yugi wouldn't come."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Yugi's voice rang out from behind Kokurano causing the pervert to jump slightly from the suddenness. After escaping from Kokurano's trap Yami had made a mad dash to the classroom that Anzu was supposed to be meeting her mysterious letter giver, never slowing down as he made his way through countless corridors while his mind was racing with thoughts. Yami had quickly realised that Kokurano had had this planned for sometime. The way Kokurano had stroked Anzu's hand had struck a cored in both Yugi and himself. The lewd face that Kokurano hadn't been bothered to hide made it very clear to them both what perverted things had been going on in his mind and just how long he had feelings for Anzu as he fondled with her fingers. When the letter from a secret admirer had arrived on Anzu's desk later that day like Yugi Yami had paid no mind to its appearance, after all it wasn't the first time that Anzu had had admirers. However when the bookshelves had began to tumble down in the library it all became clear that Kokurano was the one behind Anzu's letter and the book left on Yugi's desk. He had purposely planned to have Yugi out of the picture to ensure that she would have no way of interrupting him from whatever he planned to do to Anzu. However Kokurano never could have predicted that Yugi had a spirit to protect her, and now he for trying to kill her.

"YUGI." Kokurano screamed as he turned to face the classroom entrance. There standing before him was indeed Yugi Moto unharmed and very much alive, however she did appear completely different than to how he remembered her looking at lunch. The Yugi in front of him now appeared taller than before, a lot taller than before as if she was finally the right height for someone her age; almost as if she was the same height as Anzu. Her features had also changed, gone had her babyish checks and large warm eye, instead in their place were a pair of cold stern full orbs that appeared to almost peer into his very soul and judge him with only a stare. The girl who many would mistake for a grade school student no seemed to be gone entirely and in her place was a completely different entity altogether. "But... I mean... But I-"

"Too bad Kokurano your prediction failed." Yami began as he made his way into the classroom, his eyes never leaving Anzu. His gut twisted with disgust as he looked upon her limp unconscious body resting on top of Kokurano's knees, once again he had been too late to stop her from being put into danger; at least this time however he had arrived before she was hurt too badly. All Yami could think about as he made his way into the room was how close he had been to arriving far to late , if he had realised the truth behind Kokurano's riddle a few seconds later than who knows what disgusting things that Kokurano would have done to Anzu while Yugi lay most likely dead under a mountain of books.

"How about we play a little game prophet?" Yami continued as he began to circle the room, looking around on top of desks and on shelves for the props he could use for the shadow game. As his gaze fell upon a pile of papers Yami's mind began to drift back to the night he gave his first punishment. He had been so prepared that night unlike every other punishment that he served since. Every time something happened to Yugi and he had to take control he had to quickly scour his surroundings for equipment and make up the instructions and rules before the situation escalated. When it came to punishing Sozoji he had to make use of some dancing clowns and a microphone while when it battling the escaped prisoner he used vodka and a lighter. Now however his options were looking slim on what he could possibly use. He had no access into the cabinet containing the chemicals that the teachers used for experiments and other scientific equipment like bunsen burners would also be hidden away, this really was a worse case scenario when creating a spur of the moment game.

"A GAME." Kokurano exclaimed as he shifted Anzu roughly from his lap and on to the floor with a load thump. He had no fear of accidentally waking her up from his roughness; knowing that the dose of chloroform he had given her would be enough to keep her sleeping for another hour at the least. As Kokurano stood up he suddenly began to feel small under both Yugi's spontaneous growth of height and intense gaze which had turned foul upon seeing him harshly push Anzu to the ground.

"If you win I'll acknowledge that your psychic powers are real and that I was wrong this morning." Yami began as he grabbed hold of one of the desks before dragging it to the centre of the room, setting the papers that he had seen before in messy pile on top; allowing for a portion of each of the pages to hang of the side of the desk. As he positioned the desk he felt one of the legs hit something that sounded like glass as it toppled over from the force he had hit it with. Looking underneath the desk Yami's eyes quickly found the discarded bottle of chloroform that Kokurano had used on Anzu earlier. Upon seeing the bottle it became clear what game he could play that would result in the perfect punishment for Kokurano's deeds against both Yugi and Anzu.

"This is the bottle of chloroform that you use before and left outside. Or maybe you saw this happening a decided to leave it outside for me." Yami spoke as he picked the bottle up from the ground, fiddling with it in his hand as he turned on his heels to look at Kokurano. "The rules are simple. You and I take turns pulling out a sheet of paper at a time and the one who drops the bottle loses the game." Yami continued as he placed the bottle in the centre of the pile of papers so that no matter what page either of them took the bottle would move; wither it moved in their favour however depended on how the game was played.

"Heh, I've won already. I can see you snoring away on the floor."

* * *

"I'll start." Yami began, confidence lacing his voice as he reached out to grab one of the papers. After moving Anzu's body so that she was resting against one of the walls instead of just slumped on the floor he and Kokurano had taken part in a quick game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who would be going first; which ended up being Yami winning over Kokurano's scissors. As his grip on the page tightened Yami took a sharp breath in. He had to be careful with this game, one wrong move and not only would Anzu be at risk of Kokurano but also Yugi. He had never taken control of Yugi while she slept so he had no idea if he would be able to stay in control of her body if he was knocked unconscious by the chloroform, and seeing as Kokurano had already attempted to harm Yugi once today with her being unconscious he could make sure that his revenge against her would go correctly this time; the stakes were indeed high this time around. Gripping the page tighter Yami finally decided to take a leap of faith and quickly pulled the sheet out from under the chloroform. The bottle wobbled on top of the pages for a brief moment before eventually coming to a stand still a few inches to the left of where it had initially began. "Your turn."

"Hmph. I told you Yugi the future I see does not involve me dropping the bottle." Kokurano spoke as he gripped a page of his own, still clinging to the persona that he had originally taken on to become popular, however now it seem as if he truly believed that whatever he said was gospel. He had fallen so deep into his web of lies that he now took them as absolute truth, seemingly forgetting that he had only made up his gifts; as if his 'gifts' had always been apart of him. And just like he had said the bottle did indeed not drop however unluckily for Yami the strength that Kokurano had put into pulling the page had moved the bottle so that it was close to the tables edge. "See this is what my powers can do."

_'This is a pinch.'_ Yami thought to himself as he stared at the bottle, this was the moment that would change the game and he needed to get it absolutely right. If he put to much power into his pull than the bottle would fly through the air and land on the ground, missing the table completely and resulting in him being knocked out. If he pulled the paper from the wrong angle than the bottle would either roll off the desk or move closer to the middle; meaning that he would lose or Kokurano would have the opportunity to use his turn to set him up to lose on his next turn. After thinking it over for a few moments Yami finally grabbed hold of the paper and pulled it out from underneath the page in one quick swipe, his eyes never leaving the bottle as it landed on the edge of the desk. As the bottle wobbled Yami held his breath, this was it; whatever way the bottle landed would determine who won the game and when the bottle finally stood still Yami was able to breath again.

"Now what will you do Kokurano? Surly you can see that the bottle will fall." Yami spoke unable to hide his happiness in his voice or his eyes. Kokurano couldn't escape his punishment now, there was just no way he could overcome this. The bottle would topple over the side of the desk no matter what Kokurano did, no matter where he pulled the page from the bottle would lose its balance and smash on the ground. The game had been won and Yami was victorious. "If you truly have psychic powers that you must levitate the bottle to win."

"I'LL SHOW YOU MY POWER." Kokurano screamed at Yami angrily. Staring down at the desk Kokurano began to focus on the bottle, not allowing his thoughts to wonder to anything other than the bottle floating above the paper. If he could pull out the page while the bottle was floating than he would still be following the rules that Yugi had set. As soon as he took his turn he could than place the bottle back where he had originally lifted it from and than it would be Yugi's turn to pull a page, only she didn't have his amazing abilities at her disposal. After what felt like a lifetime the bottle in front of him finally began to move from the table, slowly floating above him till it was more than high enough in the air so that he could pull out the page.

"HA HA HA!" Kokurano crackled as he gripped one of the pages before turning to face Yugi, laughing once again when he saw pity in her eyes."SEE YUGI THE BOTTLE IS FLOATING DUE TO MY AMAZING POWERS!" He continued as he turned back to look at the bottle in the air. The game was his and now there was no way that he would be interrupted this time when taking his pleasures from Anzu nor in taking his revenge for Yugi's outburst that afternoon. "I TOLD YOU I WAS PSYCHIC."

"What you see is due to your imagination." Yami told Kokurano as he walked around the table so that he could get a better view of when Kokurano finally lost. When he finally found the perfect place so that he could witness Kokurano's fate Yami decided to push his buttons one last time, knowing that once he finally pushed Kokurano over the edge he could begin to work on wiping both Anzu and Yugi's memories from that afternoon, which would take a considerable amount of time longer seeing as he still wasn't back to his full strength from switching bodies completely with Yugi when they had faced the escaped prisoner. "If you truly believe that you have powers then pull the paper out and prove I'm wrong.

Believing that Yami's words were nothing but the ramblings of a loser attempting to prolong their eventual fate Kokurano began to slowly pull the piece of paper towards him; resulting on the bottle that he thought to be floating above him to fall from the desk and shatter into shards at his feet. As the chloroform filled his nose he began to have fantasy's of winning the game and rejoicing in his powers. However this was nothing but a dream concocted from his imagination just like how it had lifted the bottle before his eyes. In reality Kokurano's body had fallen backwards and landed with a thud on the floor, his cloak unclasping as he went down. And just like Yugi had predicted underneath his clothes held multiple notes with different disasters written on them.

"You probably won't wake up till tomorrow morning." Yami told Kokurano's unconscious self as he walked over to Anzu, quickly checking to see if she had remained asleep during their game. When he finally was satisfied that Anzu had indeed remained asleep and not heard a word that had been said Yami took hold of her body in his arms, carrying her bridal style as he walked towards the door. As he moved Anzu so that she was comfortable in his arms Yami decided to take once last look at the false prophet that lay at his feet. "And by then everyone will know the truth behind your abilities."


	12. Honda, helpless in love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So like I said last chapter I hate chapter 6 in the manga so I skipped it, so instead here is the first chapter of the write up for chapter 7 of the manga. Also you learn interesting things while reading wiki pages on characters, such as the fact that Grandpa Muto didn't get married and have his son until he was over 40.

 

3rd Person POV

 _'Good think it was PE today, now I finally have enough laundry to do a wash.'_ Yugi thought to herself as she walked outside of the school gates all alone. Normally she would walk with Jonouchi as far as they could before the two had to go in opposite directions however because she had to go back and collect her gym uniform he had gone ahead; telling her he had something important he had to see to so he couldn't stay behind to wait for her. She didn't mind walking alone though, it meant that she had a few moments to herself to figure out her plans for the afternoon and what jobs she would have to do when she finally arrived home.

"Hey Yugi." Jonouchi's voice rang out behind her, interrupting her thoughts with his sudden appearance. She hadn't expected him to still be at the school after telling her he had plans, thinking that whatever business that he had to attend to was off campus; however seeing as she was now hearing his voice it appeared that that wasn't the case. As she turned on her heels to see him the feelings of happiness that she had at seeing him began to dwindle when she saw that he wasn't approaching her alone.

"Hey Jonouchi, are you heading home?" Yugi questioned as she fiddled with her backpack, her eyes firm on Jonouchi's nodding face as to not let them wonder over to Honda, who was no leaning against the school wall behind them. The two didn't get along very well whenever they hung out, which was once every blue moon when Jonouchi and Honda had plans but walked with her anyway. The time they spent together wasn't pleasant either, with Honda often making remarks about her behind Jonouchi's back; waiting till the blonde was far enough ahead of them that he wouldn't hear the insults. If Jonouchi had any idea about what was said Honda would have ended up with a punch to the face again, he made the mistake of insulting Yugi around Jonouchi once and he certainly wasn't going to do it again. Honda would also try to persuade her to let him borrow some of her Grandpa's _magazines,_ apparently having heard about his collection from Jonouchi in passing.

"It's a good thing your here Yugi. We've got an idea to discuss with you." Jonouchi told her as he pointed behind him to signal to Honda, who's face twisted into a mixture of anger and shock at his friends words. Quickly Honda pulled himself up and rushed over to the blonde, grabbing a hold of his collar as he forced him to turn around away from Yugi and towards him instead.

"JONOUCHI!" Honda shouted at him pulled his friend closer towards him, practically letting out a growl as he saw how relaxed and unaffected his friend appeared at his rage. When he had originally confided in Jonouchi about his problem he thought that what he spoke of would be kept between the two. However Jonouchi had told him that his experience in the subject were almost non existent so he suggested that they talk to a friend of his who would know more. At first he had been reluctant to let slip the information to anyone else but Jonouchi had reassured him that this friend would keep his secret and know exactly what to do, so Honda had agreed thinking that this friend that Jonouchi had been talking about was Anzu Mazaki. However he never could have considered that the possibility that Yugi was the one he referring too instead. "You can't be serious. Not her."

"Take it easy Honda. You said you'd leave it to me." Jonouchi reminded him as he reached up to grab a hold of Honda's hands gripping him collar, gently pulling at Honda's fingers until he let go. He knew that Honda had a thing against Yugi but he never imagined that he would be this against asking for her help, however Yugi was the only person that Jonouchi could think off to help with the situation. While he was pretty sure Yugi had never dated anyone before he had seen plenty of romance video's and books in her house so she had to have some ideas of romance and what girls would like. And with her being an actually girl she certainly had more of a clue that either him and Honda did about girls.

"She'll just tell everyone Jonouchi. She's got a grudge against me." Honda explained as he signalled towards the girl who was looked back and forth between the two in confusion. She couldn't figure out what was going on at all, completely confused at the antics of the two boys; so instead she just stood there in front of them trying her best to follow their conversation even though she was clearly missing the most important piece of information that she needed to understand what they were referring to.

"Honda how many times have I got to tell you Yugi's not like that. I promise." Jonouchi reassured Honda as he turned towards Yugi who gave him a small smile in return for his kind words. In the weeks he had know Yugi she didn't seem like the type at all to hold anything against anybody, after all she had quickly accepted him as a friend hadn't she. She held what he had done to her against him, and whenever he had tried to apologise to her about the wrongs he had done she just told him that the past wasn't the present and that his kindness and friendship to her now was more than enough to make up for what he did back then. "You'll keep a secret won't you Yugi? Just between the three of us."

"Of course. I won't tell." Yugi told him as she looked over to Honda to try and convince him that he could trust her. While she didn't particularly like him Yugi certainly didn't hold a grudge. Sure he said some bad things to her when they walked home together like how she had been a bad influence on Jonouchi, making him appear to be weak to some of the thugs at school resulting him to get into more fights than he normally would to prove that he was still as tough as ever. But Yugi never believed a word of it, on several days that Honda had told her that Jonouchi had been involved in a fight she knew were false as Jonouchi had been hanging around with her and wouldn't leave until really late at night due to her insisting that he stay for a meal.

"The truth is Honda is in love." Jonouchi began to tell her, pausing briefly in his explanation to quickly look at Honda; who now sat on his knees behind him fake whimpering at the fact that his secret had been revealed. "The girls name is Miho Nosaka or 'ribbon' to her friends as she wears a yellow ribbon in her hair everyday. She sits on near the window in our class room. She's also the school librarian. Do you know who I mean Yugi?" Jonouchi asked her unsure if she even knew who Miho was by the mixed expression on her face that seemed to have gotten worse the more he explained who Miho was.

"Beautiful Miho." Honda dreamily sighed behind him suddenly, which only made Yugi's already hard to place expression even worse to read though if Jonouchi had to guess it looked like a mix between disgust and annoyance .

"Of course I know her." Yugi told them as she shifted her backpack off her shoulders confusing the two boys in front of her at her antics. The three remained quite as Yugi looked through the bag until she pulled out a small book engraved with the word 'diary'. "We went to the same school; we're even in a study group together. Every time midterms and finals come around both of us along with Anzu study together." Yugi continued as she shifted through the book until she came across the page she was after and turned the book towards the two boys and pointed to an entry that read 'Study Session with Miho and Anzu: Library 4:30'.

"Well this dimwit even though he doesn't stand a chance has fallen head over heels for her." Jonouchi spoke as he reached forward to grab a hold of Yugi, catching the diary that she had dropped in shock of his actions as he pulled her into a surprise hug. "He needs a present you see to get her attention and I thought seeing as your store sells all sorts of weird stuff you would be the ideal person to help him win her over."

"We own a game shop Jonouchi." Yugi told him as she tried to pull herself away, still in shock that he had suddenly pulled her close the way he did. Sure Jonouchi had grabbed her like this a few times in the past when she had been in danger like when he had pulled her close during the earthquake the week before but for him to just hold her out of the blue like that had never happen before. It was almost foreign for her to be this close to anybody but Seto or her Grandpa, not even Anzu had hugged her like Jonouchi was doing.

"A game shop, thats useless." Honda exclaimed behind them.

"Lets try it anyway." Jonouchi replied as he finally let go of Yugi so that he could help Honda up onto his feet so that they could be off.

* * *

"Do I have something for you." Grandpa Moto spoke to the three students as he looked through the shelves behind the counter, his eyes scanning the many old and dusty boxes for what he had in mind.

"You do grandpa?" Yugi asked him, completely surprised that he actually had something to help Honda. On the way to the game shop she had told the two that the chances of them actually having something was very slim, telling them that people don't normally confess their feelings over games so the possibility of there actually being a game around the idea were minuscule. Honda had wanted to just go home when he heard that but Jonouchi had persuaded him to stay, saying that she hadn't flat out said that they had nothing so it wouldn't hurt to try.

"I haven't told you this story yet Yugi but this is how I won over your grandmother and got her to marry me." Sugoroku told her just as his eyes finally found the plain white box that he was after. As he grabbed the box Sugoroku quickly gave it a wipe to clear away the dust before turning to the teens, a smile on his face as he thought about his late wife and the day he proposed all those years ago.

"This is a blank puzzle." Sugoroku began to explain as he lifted up the lid presenting the puzzle pieces to the children. "You write down your feelings, brake up the pieces and than send it to her. As she puts the pieces together your words will appear. Isn't it romantic." He could still remember the look on his beloved wife's face when she had finished the puzzle for in front of him. He had been a much younger man back then of course fresh back from his time to the Valley of the Kings years ago. He had been meaning to propose before he went wishing to know that she would have been his in case he ended up losing the Pharaoh's game however circumstances had stopped that from happening. As soon as he returned however he knew that he could not make that mistake again after his near death experience and asked for her hand before the sun set the day he returned to Japan.

"HAHAHAH I can't imagine you with something like this Honda." Jonouchi laughed as he stared at the blank puzzle in front of him.

"I'll take it." Honda spoke lightly much to the surprise of everyone in the room. Taking out his wallet from his pocket and paid Sugoroku 1000 yen for the puzzle assuming that it would be enough to cover it. However as he was about to put the box away into his backpack Honda was hit was a sudden realisation. "Wait...What will I write? I've never wrote a love letter before...Yugi you write it." Honda said quickly as he shoved the box into Yugi's hands. He might not have a clue what would be appropriate for a love letter but if Jonouchi thought that she could help with him finding a present for Miho than she must have had some ideas of what made a good love letter.

"What! I've never wrote a love letter before either." Yugi exclaimed as she looked down at the box. Yugi's experiences with love were limited to movies, books and dating sims. She had never confessed to anyone or had anyone confess to her either, in fact the only time she ever saw a real confession was whenever a boy would confess to Anzu in front of her, as if he didn't see her there at all. Her thoughts on love or the lack of it she had in her life were quickly interrupted however when Honda grabbed one of her hands and placed it on his chest over his heart.

"Fell how hard my heart beats Yugi. Take this passion and put it into words its not that hard." Honda told her as he stared into her eyes, trying to send her his feelings for Miho without saying a word. They stood there awkwardly for a moment just staring at each other before Honda let go of her hand to grab her collar and lifting her up on to her tip toes so he didn't have to look further down at her "And if she turns me down it will be your fault." He shouted as he shock her around before Jonouchi forced him to let go.

"Honda don't be ridiculous." Jonouchi told him as he turned to face Jonouchi Sugoroku and mouthed a 'sorry about him'.

"If I'm going to write it then you have to at least pick the wrapping paper." Yugi told Honda as she straighten her collar, making a reminder in her head to iron it later that night so that it looked neat for tomorrows classes. "Come on we have some new sheets in the back you can pick from." Yugi continued as she led Honda to the back of the shop, leaving Jonouchi and Sugoroku on there own.

"You know I have another one Jonouchi if you want one." Sugoroku spoke breaking the awkward silence that had quickly slipped in after Yugi and Honda had left.

"What makes you think I need one Gramps." Jonouchi replied as he opened up the white box, questioning in his head how something as cheesy as a blank puzzle was going to work.

"I just thought that it be sweet if you confessed to my granddaughter the same way I did to her grandmother thats all."Sugoroku told him as he walked over to the register to finally ring up Honda's purchase.

"WHAT."


	13. Ms Chono, the witch of expulsion

3rd Person POV

After a long gruelling night trying to come up with the perfect confession Yugi was finally satisfied with what she had wrote at nearly two in the morning. It had taken her hours to try and find the words that would both impress Miho but also would seem like something Honda would actually say. In the end she had over 15 romance novels scattered across her desk hoping that they would inspire her and maybe steal a line or two from. When she had finished Yugi decided to leave the puzzle out overnight so that it had plenty of time to dry and proceeded to go to bed, setting her alarm early just in case Honda or Jonouchi decided to call in the morning.

Sure enough at 6:30, while she was in the middle of making an omelette, the duo arrived arguing about how Honda was going to give Miho the puzzle. The three brainstormed over breakfast alongside her Grandpa each having their own idea as to what would be the best way to confess. In the end they were down to three possible plans as to how to present Miho with the puzzle.

The first was suggested by Jonouchi while he went looking through the kitchen cupboards for sellotape so that Yugi could wrap the present. Jonouchi's plan was simple, have Honda give it to her directly so that in the case of her rejecting him it would be over quickly and he wouldn't be waiting days while getting his hopes up. This idea was shut down practically as he finished saying it. What would be the point of Honda handing her the puzzle read if he was going to be there watching her put the pieces together; he might as well just tell her properly in the classroom or the roof of the school.

Honda suggested that he mail it to her house. However after being shot down by both Yugi and her Grandpa he quickly realised that it was a stupid idea. Yugi had pointed out that he didn't know where she lived so how could he mail it to her address, Yugi wasn't willing to him and he doubted any of the other girls in his class would either; fearful that Honda might involve Miho in a gang or trying to exploit her. Plus as Yugi's Grandpa pointed Miho might not know him, after all he hadn't really spoken to her much before asides from the occasional hello. How embarrassing would that be confessing to a girl only for her not to be able to picture what you look like.

In the end it was Yugi's Grandpa that came up with the perfect solution. He suggested that they place the puzzle in Miho's desk before school started so that Honda could see the look on Miho's face when she figured out who her confession was from. Depending on her reaction Honda would be able to prepare himself for the outcome, whether it was good or bad news Honda would have some clue as to what his possible answer would be.

* * *

_Ding Dong_

"If this goes well burgers are on me." Honda whispered to the others before making his way to his desk. After arriving an hour early to school to make sure that they weren't caught the three teens had spent the remaining time talking about what they had done or were planning to do come the weekend. Honda had been surprised when he found out that Yugi had been up a good portion of the night trying to write his confession for him. He figured that while Yugi promised to help him she wouldn't have gone to such lengths after everything he had done. She had worked so hard on a confession that wasn't even her own, promising him that she had used her best marker pen as well as her neatest handwriting so that everything would be perfect. Maybe he had been wrong about her, after all she had been treating him as if he was her friend and didn't tease him once about his crush on Miho unlike a certain blonde idiot. Perhaps when this was through they could get to know each other better and become real friends.

"Alright everyone! All eyes up front please."Miss Chono announced as she entered the classroom. Miss Chono, or as many of the student body called her 'The wicked witch of expel' was a cruel woman; a demon hiding behind copious amounts of makeup and stiletto shoes. In the past 6 months she had expelled 15 students, nearly double the amount that she had expelled in the previous year. She had claimed that these students, even if they were in trouble for the first time in their lives, didn't deserve kindness and should be removed from the school immediately; and because she had both the principle and vice principle in the palm of her hand her decisions were always accepted. These students didn't deserve to be expelled of course, the only reason that Miss Chono had even decided to pass such a judgement is because every night before an expulsion she had a terrible date; and needing a way to relive her anger she took it out on her students. Just like she planned to now after the failed omiai from the weekend. "Now before we open our text books I think it's time for a surprise inspection don't you. Empty the contents of your bags and desks, hurry now so we can get on with the lesson."

_'This is bad for Honda'._ Yugi thought as she reached under her desk and began to bring out her textbooks and equipment she had stashed there. Yugi had heard the rumours surrounding Miss Chono, everyone had, all the older students made sure that the first years all knew just what a witch she was and to make sure they watched themselves around her. No one dared bring anything illegal or against the school rules to her classes just in case she had one of her 'surprise inspections', not that that really matter however seeing as even if you didn't break any rules she'd find some way to expel you anyway.

"And what is this Miss Nosaka?" Miss Chono asked as she approached the girl, her eyes fixed on the neatly wrapped present on the desk. The second that she had seen it she knew that she had something interesting.

"I don't know Miss...I found it in my desk." Miho told her, her voice almost like a whisper trying not to draw any more attention to herself. As Miss Chono began to rip the present open Miho began to shaking in her seat, the fear of being expelled weighing heavily on her mind. A single tear rolled down her right check as she watched Miss Chono return to her desk, throwing the lovely wrapping paper in the rubbish bin before placing the box on her desk and opening it.

"A jigsaw puzzle." Miss Chono exclaimed as she saw what was inside. She was slightly upset that she hadn't found anything interesting like drugs or porn but just when she was about to give the girl the puzzle back she noticed writing on the pieces. Putting a few together she soon discovered that the puzzle hide a message, something that she might be able to use to expel both the girl and the puzzles sender.

"Well would you look at that when you put the pieces together a message appears. Lets see... 'My beloved Ribbon'- why I do believe that this is a confession children."


	14. Yugi and the damned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the long awaited new chapter. BTW I'm going to be going back and rewriting some of the older chapters, because it's very clear that they were written by an 11 year old (which was how old I was when I started this). Enjoy guys and tell me what you think.

If there was one thing that Yugi was sure of about her situation it was that it had started with Ushio. At the time she had blamed it on the stress of the beating and the blackmail that had lead to her losing her memory. Then of course she arrived at school the next day only to see Ushio broken, there was no other word to describe him. Something had happened to him that night and his mind had snapped trapping him in an illusion to protect himself, at least that's what the school had said during assembly a week later. Because of what had happened Ushio would not be returning to Domino High School until the next school year at the earliest, but until then he would stay in a ward at the hospital so that he would have access to the best care and ensured that he wasn't a danger to everyone else. And not long after the assembly, the school swept what had happened to Ushio under the rug as if he had never attended Domino High School in the first place. The only real proof that he had ever been there was a group photo of the Hall Monitors that was housed in a cabinet at the front of the school, which Yugi was very certain would be removed as soon as the next picture day arrived. It had gotten her thinking at that point, if he hadn't attacked her, Honda and Jounouchi the day before would she have forgotten Ushio as quickly as the other students and faculty had.

Sozoji came next and so did her surprising friendship with Hanasaki. That night at the karaoke bar after she had woken up from her blackout Yugi had been met with the horrendous sight of Sozoji's unconscious body, his hands covered in blood as they gripped the side of his head in a means to cover his ears. She still had no idea what had happened to him that night even though she had crossed Sozoji's path on more than one occasion. Every time she had seen him he either turned around and went in the opposite direction or refused to make eye contact with her. He hadn't had one of his shows on since that night either, he couldn't even if he wanted to. Whatever happened to Sozoji had lead to him losing most of his hearing, resulting in him now having to learn sign language and rely solely on the books provided to study. His entire life had been turned upside down and music, possibly the only thing that he was passionate about despite his lack of talent was gone from his life entirely.

The next time she had a black out was completely understandable after all hostage situations are stressful, though most people don't pass out only to wake up and see a man on fire. A similar experience occurred when she was next lost consciousness, though instead of being threatened at gunpoint she was about to be crushed to death by a falling bookshelf. Unexpectedly, however, she hadn't woken up at the hospital like she should have if she had actually been trapped under the bookcase. Instead she awake that night at 3 am needing the bathroom with vague memories of walking home from school alongside Anzu and cooking dinner for her and her Grandpa, and yet even though she had those memories they didn't seem real. It was as if she was watching herself on a video but had no memory of it ever being filmed.

Then there had been the incident with Inogashira although seeing as he and the rest of his classmates had hit her with a sheet of metal that had resulted in her flying Yugi wasn't sure to include him or not. Especially seeing as she hit her head so hard on the ground after landing that Jonouchi had to carry her unconscious body to the nurses office, so of course she would have wanted an early night in bed to rest. But then she got to school that morning to find that Inogashira was now in the hospital in a coma with the majority of his body covered in burns, apparently from a failed suicide attempt involving gun powder of all things, at least that's what the rumour mill was saying. And the school hadn't said or done anything about it instead the festival went on and everyone just went on with the day as if nothing had happened, even Yugi had forgotten about Inogashira that day as she and her friends went around all the different stalls enjoying the day away until she arrived home that night.

What had happened to Ms Chono had been a sight, her make up cracking in front of the class to reveal a cruel looking woman that could rival any horror mask. But it had been so unexpected,

Ms Chono's makeup looking on point and perfect one second and that gone the instant she was about to say Honda's name. That had been an embarrassing day in class, standing in front of everyone and telling them that she had written the confession had caused the majority of her classmates to either laugh at her or whisper to each other about how they had always known that Yugi was different. But then Jonouchi, sweet Jonouchi who was almost like a knight in shining armour that day stood up and confessed to putting it in Ribbon's desk, and suddenly the class had gone silent unsure anymore about who the real writer was. Not that they ever got the chance seeing as Ms Chono had run out of the classroom before she could give their name, and Yugi had run straight to the desk afterwards to collect the puzzle so no one would know.

And finally, there had been the shop owner earlier that day. After school, Jonouchi had persuaded both her and Honda to join him on a hunt for a shop called the Junky Scorpion just so he could buy a pair of high tech shoes that had Yugi questioning where he got the money from. In the end, Jonouchi got his shoes, after he proved that he was worthy of them by putting his foot inside one that apparently had a scorpion in it, which wasn't actually true just a trick by the owner; but it certainly had all three friends freaked out. But the as they walked home, Jonouchi prancing around like an idiot to show off his new shoes, they were jumped by the 'Muscle Hunters'; a gang of guys who stole rare shoes. But it had all been set up by the shop owner who hired the gang to retrieve the shoes so that he could sell them on to the next person who came into his store and start the process again. In the end, Jonouchi and Honda had walked Yugi back to the train station so that she could go home, claiming they would see her tomorrow after they took their revenge on the shop owner. But just like all the other times that came before it, Yugi blacked out after Jonouchi and Honda had walked away from her and didn't wake up until the morning after, Jonouchi's trainers resting on top of her dresser. According to her friends when they arrived at the shop the owner was being carted away on an ambulance, apparently having been stung by his own scorpion. They were admittedly bummed that they hadn't been able to get their revenge until Yugi had pulled out Jonouchi shoes from her bag twisting the truth so that they didn't ask any questions. And so the three walked into school, Jonouchi proudly displaying his new shoes and the 'battle scar' to everyone he could, not caring that he hadn't had the chance to beat up the crooked owner.

Yugi didn't know how to explain it, everything had been fine until a few weeks ago. She had led a semi normal life with her Grandfather since she was born, which if you ignored the part where her best friend was a billionaire then her life was just normal. She went to school, she got good grades and liked to spend her free time playing games. But now everything had changed and the only different thing in her life that could possibly be a reason for her blackouts was the Millenium Puzzle that hung around her neck nearly every second of the day.

Her first blackout had been the night before she had completed the puzzle when she had stayed awake late into the night trying to finish it. It had been a quiet uneventful evening until that voice appeared. That voice that came out of nowhere and frightened her half to death but sounded so soft and calming all at the same time. But there had been no one in her room so it wasn't a burglar or anyone like that, instead it was as if the voice was coming from the puzzle itself. However when she had walked over to her desk and touched the puzzle the world had become blurry and a figure appeared out of thin air, carrying her to her bed so gentle it was as if she was floating. And that voice, his words on how she released him; it was all driving her wild.

She had been warned more times than she could count since the day she had found the puzzle that there was a curse upon it. That no one who was involved with its excavation from the Valley of the Kings survived. And yet for over 8 years she continued trying to solve the unsolvable puzzle until she finally completed it; something beyond human knowledge as her Grandpa told her yet she had done it; a 16 year old girl. She had done the impossible and now she was being punished for it, that's why all these things were happening around her. Every time someone would hurt her something terrible happened to them, sometimes the unimaginable. Ushio had lost his mind, Sozoji no longer had his hearing, the escaped prisoner had been set on fire as had Inogashira and the store owner had been poisoned. Everyone who had wronged or harmed either her or her friends had been punished for what they had done.

She had to get rid of the puzzle before anyone else was hurt. She could throw it in the river, smash it to pieces with a hammer, maybe even sell it the thing was solid gold after all it had to be worth a fortune; honestly, it was surprising how she had never been mugged over it. Maybe she had, who knows how with many hours she's lost anything could have happened. She could no longer wear it around her neck not if it came at the costs of others lives, no matter how much she wanted to keep it.

_"Don't leave me."_


	15. A/N

So I'm starting to rewrite this as I started when I was 11 years old and you can really tell especially in the first few chapters. But I'm 20 now and my skills have improved so the whole story should improve with every chapter I rewrite. I'm also going to solve a lot of my continuity errors. Hoping to have this all done in the next few months while also hoping to post new chapters alongside. Chapters rewritten so far: Chapter 1.


	16. New Chapter (6)

The rewritten version of chapters 23,24 and half of chapter 25 is now up, though as I've only rewritten half of chapter 25 I've added the rest of the old chapter onto the next chapter so the info isn't lost. Until next time guys and remember to review.


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